Nasser's popularity in Egypt and the Arab world skyrocketed after his nationalization of the Suez Canal and his political victory in the subsequent Suez Crisis. Calls for pan-Arab unity under his leadership increased, culminating with the formation of the United Arab Republic with Syria from 1958 to 1961. In 1962, Nasser began a series of major socialist measures and modernization reforms in Egypt, despite setbacks to his pan-Arabist cause, by 1963 Nasser's supporters gained power in several Arab countries, but he became embroiled in the North Yemen Civil War and eventually the much larger Arab Cold War. He began his second presidential term in March 1965 after his political opponents were banned from running. Following Egypt's defeat by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, Nasser resigned, but he returned to office after popular demonstrations called for his reinstatement. By 1968, Nasser had appointed himself Prime Minister, launched the War of Attrition to regain lost territory, began a process of depoliticizing the military and issued a set of political liberalization reforms, after the conclusion of the 1970 Arab League summit, Nasser suffered a heart attack and died. His funeral in Cairo drew five million mourners and an outpouring of grief across the Arab world.

Gamal Abdel Nasser was born on 15 January 1918 in Bakos, Alexandria, the first son of Fahima and Abdel Nasser Hussein.[2] Nasser's father was a postal worker[3] born in Beni Mur in Upper Egypt and raised in Alexandria,[2] and his mother's family came from Mallawi, el-Minya.[4] His parents married in 1917,[4] and later had two more boys, Izz al-Arab and al-Leithi.[2] Nasser's biographers Robert Stephens and Said Aburish wrote that Nasser's family believed strongly in the "Arab notion of glory", since the name of Nasser's brother, Izz al-Arab, translates to "Glory of the Arabs"—a rare name in Egypt.[5]

Nasser's family traveled frequently due to his father's work; in 1921, they moved to Asyut and, in 1923, to Khatatba, where Nasser's father ran a post office. Nasser attended a primary school for the children of railway employees until 1924, when he was sent to live with his paternal uncle in Cairo, and to attend the Nahhasin elementary school.[6]

Nasser exchanged letters with his mother and visited her on holidays, he stopped receiving messages at the end of April 1926. Upon returning to Khatatba, he learned that his mother had died after giving birth to his third brother, Shawki, and that his family had kept the news from him.[7][8] Nasser later stated that "losing her this way was a shock so deep that time failed to remedy",[9] he adored his mother and the injury of her death deepened when his father remarried before the year's end.[7][10][11]

In 1928, Nasser went to Alexandria to live with his maternal grandfather and attend the city's Attarin elementary school,[8][9] he left in 1929 for a private boarding school in Helwan, and later returned to Alexandria to enter the Ras el-Tin secondary school and to join his father, who was working for the city's postal service.[8][9] It was in Alexandria that Nasser became involved in political activism,[8][12] after witnessing clashes between protesters and police in Manshia Square,[9] he joined the demonstration without being aware of its purpose.[13] The protest, organized by the ultranationalistYoung Egypt Society, called for the end of colonialism in Egypt in the wake of the 1923 Egyptian constitution's annulment by Prime Minister Isma'il Sidqi.[9] Nasser was arrested and detained for a night[14] before his father bailed him out.[8]

Nasser's name circled in Al-Gihad

When his father was transferred to Cairo in 1933, Nasser joined him and attended al-Nahda al-Masria school,[9][15] he took up acting in school plays for a brief period and wrote articles for the school's paper, including a piece on French philosopher Voltaire titled "Voltaire, the Man of Freedom".[9][15] On 13 November 1935, Nasser led a student demonstration against British rule, protesting against a statement made four days prior by UK foreign minister Samuel Hoare that rejected prospects for the 1923 Constitution's restoration.[9] Two protesters were killed and Nasser received a graze to the head from a policeman's bullet,[14] the incident garnered his first mention in the press: the nationalist newspaper Al Gihad reported that Nasser led the protest and was among the wounded.[9][16] On 12 December, the new king, Farouk, issued a decree restoring the constitution.[9]

Nasser's involvement in political activity increased throughout his school years, such that he only attended 45 days of classes during his last year of secondary school,[17][18] despite it having the almost unanimous backing of Egypt's political forces, Nasser strongly objected to the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty because it stipulated the continued presence of British military bases in the country.[9] Nonetheless, political unrest in Egypt declined significantly and Nasser resumed his studies at al-Nahda,[17] where he received his leaving certificate later that year.[9]

Nasser was greatly influenced by Egyptian nationalism, as espoused by politician Mustafa Kamel, poet Ahmed Shawqi,[19] and his anti-colonialist instructor at the Royal Military Academy, Aziz al-Masri, to whom Nasser expressed his gratitude in a 1961 newspaper interview.[23] He was especially influenced by Egyptian writer Tawfiq al-Hakim's novel Return of the Spirit, in which al-Hakim wrote that the Egyptian people were only in need of a "man in whom all their feelings and desires will be represented, and who will be for them a symbol of their objective".[14][21] Nasser later credited the novel as his inspiration to launch the 1952 revolution.[21]

In 1937, Nasser applied to the Royal Military Academy for army officer training,[24] but his police record of anti-government protest initially blocked his entry.[25] Disappointed, he enrolled in the law school at King Fuad University,[25] but quit after one semester to reapply to the Military Academy,[26] from his readings, Nasser, who frequently spoke of "dignity, glory, and freedom" in his youth,[27] became enchanted with the stories of national liberators and heroic conquerors; a military career became his chief priority.[28]

Convinced that he needed a wasta, or an influential intermediary to promote his application above the others, Nasser managed to secure a meeting with Under-Secretary of War Ibrahim Khairy Pasha,[24] the person responsible for the academy's selection board, and requested his help.[25] Khairy Pasha agreed and sponsored Nasser's second application,[24] which was accepted in late 1937.[25][29] Nasser focused on his military career from then on, and had little contact with his family, at the academy, he met Abdel Hakim Amer and Anwar Sadat, both of whom became important aides during his presidency.[24] After graduating from the academy in July 1938,[9] he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the infantry, and posted to Mankabad,[20] it was here that Nasser and his closest comrades, including Sadat and Amer, first discussed their dissatisfaction at widespread corruption in the country and their desire to topple the monarchy. Sadat would later write that because of his "energy, clear-thinking, and balanced judgement", Nasser emerged as the group's natural leader.[30]

Nasser (right) with army comrades, 1940

In 1941, Nasser was posted to Khartoum, Sudan, which was part of Egypt at the time. Nasser returned to Egypt in September 1942 after a brief stay in Sudan, then secured a position as an instructor in the Cairo Royal Military Academy in May 1943;[20] in 1942, the British Ambassador Miles Lampson marched into King Farouk's palace and ordered him to dismiss Prime Minister Hussein Sirri Pasha for having pro-Axis sympathies. Nasser saw the incident as a blatant violation of Egyptian sovereignty and wrote, "I am ashamed that our army has not reacted against this attack",[31] and wished for "calamity" to overtake the British.[31] Nasser was accepted into the General Staff College later that year,[31] he began to form a group of young military officers with strong nationalist sentiments who supported some form of revolution.[32] Nasser stayed in touch with the group's members primarily through Amer, who continued to seek out interested officers within the Egyptian Armed Force's various branches and presented Nasser with a complete file on each of them.[33]

In May 1948, following the British withdrawal, King Farouk sent the Egyptian army into Palestine,[37] with Nasser serving in the 6th Infantry Battalion,[38] during the war, he wrote of the Egyptian army's unpreparedness, saying "our soldiers were dashed against fortifications".[37] Nasser was deputy commander of the Egyptian forces that secured the Faluja pocket (commanded by Said Taha Bey[39] nicknamed the "Sudanese tiger" by the Israelis[40]). On 12 July, he was lightly wounded in the fighting. By August, his brigade was surrounded by the Israeli Army. Appeals for help from Jordan's Arab Legion went unheeded, but the brigade refused to surrender. Negotiations between Israel and Egypt finally resulted in the ceding of Faluja to Israel.[37] According to veteran journalist Eric Margolis, the defenders of Faluja, "including young army officer Gamal Abdel Nasser, became national heroes" for enduring Israeli bombardment while isolated from their command.[41]

Still stationed after the war in the Falluja enclave, Nasser agreed to an Israeli request to identify 67 killed soldiers of the "religious platoon", the expedition was led by Rabbi Shlomo Goren and Nasser personally accompanied him, ordering the Egyptian soldiers to stand at attention. They spoke briefly, and according to Goren, after learning what the square phylacteries found with the soldiers were, Nasser told him that he "now understands their courageous stand", during an interview on Israeli TV in 1971, Rabbi Goren claimed the two agreed to meet again when the time of peace comes.[42][43]

The Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum hosted a public celebration for the officers' return despite reservations from the royal government, which had been pressured by the British to prevent the reception, the apparent difference in attitude between the government and the general public increased Nasser's determination to topple the monarchy.[44] Nasser had also felt bitter that his brigade had not been relieved despite the resilience it displayed,[45] he started writing his book Philosophy of the Revolution during the siege.[41]

After the war, Nasser returned to his role as an instructor at the Royal Military Academy,[46] he sent emissaries to forge an alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood in October 1948, but soon concluded that the religious agenda of the Brotherhood was not compatible with his nationalism. From then on, Nasser prevented the Brotherhood's influence over his cadres' activities without severing ties with the organization.[37] Nasser was sent as a member of the Egyptian delegation to Rhodes in February 1949 to negotiate a formal armistice with Israel, and reportedly considered the terms to be humiliating, particularly because the Israelis were able to easily occupy the Eilat region while negotiating with the Arabs in March.[47]

Nasser's return to Egypt coincided with Husni al-Za'im's Syrian coup d'état,[47] its success and evident popular support among the Syrian people encouraged Nasser's revolutionary pursuits.[47] Soon after his return, he was summoned and interrogated by Prime Minister Ibrahim Abdel Hadi regarding suspicions that he was forming a secret group of dissenting officers.[47] According to secondhand reports, Nasser convincingly denied the allegations.[47] Abdel Hadi was also hesitant to take drastic measures against the army, especially in front of its chief of staff, who was present during the interrogation, and subsequently released Nasser,[47] the interrogation pushed Nasser to speed up his group's activities.[47]

After 1949, the group adopted the name "Association of Free Officers" and advocated "little else but freedom and the restoration of their country’s dignity".[46] Nasser organized the Free Officers' founding committee, which eventually comprised fourteen men from different social and political backgrounds, including representation from Young Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Egyptian Communist Party, and the aristocracy.[47] Nasser was unanimously elected chairman of the organization.[47]

In the 1950 parliamentary elections, the Wafd Party of el-Nahhas gained a victory—mostly due to the absence of the Muslim Brotherhood, which boycotted the elections—and was perceived as a threat by the Free Officers as the Wafd had campaigned on demands similar to their own.[48] Accusations of corruption against Wafd politicians began to surface, however, breeding an atmosphere of rumor and suspicion that consequently brought the Free Officers to the forefront of Egyptian politics.[49] By then, the organization had expanded to around ninety members; according to Khaled Mohieddin, "nobody knew all of them and where they belonged in the hierarchy except Nasser".[49] Nasser felt that the Free Officers were not ready to move against the government and, for nearly two years, he did little beyond officer recruitment and underground news bulletins.[50]

On 11 October 1951, the Wafd government abrogated the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty, which had given the British control over the Suez Canal until 1956,[50] the popularity of this move, as well as that of government-sponsored guerrilla attacks against the British, put pressure on Nasser to act.[50] According to Sadat, Nasser decided to wage "a large scale assassination campaign";[51] in January 1952, he and Hassan Ibrahim attempted to kill the royalist general Hussein Sirri Amer by firing their submachine guns at his car as he drove through the streets of Cairo.[51] Instead of killing the general, the attackers wounded an innocent female passerby.[51] Nasser recalled that her wails "haunted" him and firmly dissuaded him from undertaking similar actions in the future.[51]

Sirri Amer was close to King Farouk, and was nominated for the presidency of the Officer's Club—normally a ceremonial office—with the king's backing.[51] Nasser was determined to establish the independence of the army from the monarchy, and with Amer as the intercessor, resolved to field a nominee for the Free Officers,[51] they selected Muhammad Naguib, a popular general who had offered his resignation to Farouk in 1942 over British high-handedness and was wounded three times in the Palestine War.[52] Naguib won overwhelmingly and the Free Officers, through their connection with a leading Egyptian daily, al-Misri, publicized his victory while praising the nationalistic spirit of the army.[52]

On 25 January 1952, a confrontation between British forces and police at Ismailia resulted in the deaths of 40 Egyptian policemen, provoking riots in Cairo the next day which left 76 people dead. Afterwards, Nasser published a simple six-point program in Rose al-Yūsuf to dismantle feudalism and British influence in Egypt; in May, Nasser received word that Farouk knew the names of the Free Officers and intended to arrest them; he immediately entrusted Free Officer Zakaria Mohieddin with the task of planning the government takeover by army units loyal to the association.[53]

The Free Officers' intention was not to install themselves in government, but to re-establish a parliamentary democracy. Nasser did not believe that a low-ranking officer like himself (a lieutenant colonel) would be accepted by the Egyptian people, and so selected General Naguib to be his "boss" and lead the coup in name, the revolution they had long sought was launched on 22 July and was declared a success the next day. The Free Officers seized control of all government buildings, radio stations, and police stations, as well as army headquarters in Cairo. While many of the rebel officers were leading their units, Nasser donned civilian clothing to avoid detection by royalists and moved around Cairo monitoring the situation;[53] in a move to stave off foreign intervention two days before the revolution, Nasser had notified the American and British governments of his intentions, and both had agreed not to aid Farouk.[53][54] Under pressure from the Americans, Nasser had agreed to exile the deposed king with an honorary ceremony.[55]

On 18 June 1953, the monarchy was abolished and the Republic of Egypt declared, with Naguib as its first president.[53] According to Aburish, after assuming power, Nasser and the Free Officers expected to become the "guardians of the people's interests" against the monarchy and the pasha class while leaving the day-to-day tasks of government to civilians,[56] they asked former prime minister Ali Maher to accept reappointment to his previous position, and to form an all-civilian cabinet.[56] The Free Officers then governed as the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) with Naguib as chairman and Nasser as vice-chairman.[57] Relations between the RCC and Maher grew tense, however, as the latter viewed many of Nasser's schemes—agrarian reform, abolition of the monarchy, reorganization of political parties[58]—as too radical, culminating in Maher's resignation on 7 September. Naguib assumed the additional role of prime minister, and Nasser that of deputy prime minister;[59][60] in September, the Agrarian Reform Law was put into effect.[58] In Nasser's eyes, this law gave the RCC its own identity and transformed the coup into a revolution.[61]

Preceding the reform law, in August 1952, communist-led riots broke out at textile factories in Kafr el-Dawwar, leading to a clash with the army that left nine people dead. While most of the RCC insisted on executing the riot's two ringleaders, Nasser opposed this. Nonetheless, the sentences were carried out, the Muslim Brotherhood supported the RCC, and after Naguib's assumption of power, demanded four ministerial portfolios in the new cabinet. Nasser turned down their demands and instead hoped to co-opt the Brotherhood by giving two of its members, who were willing to serve officially as independents, minor ministerial posts.[61]

Gamal Abdel Nasser laughing at the Muslim Brotherhood for suggesting in 1953 that women should be required to wear the hijab and that Islamic law should be enforced across the country.

In January 1953, Nasser overcame opposition from Naguib and banned all political parties,[62] creating a one-party system under the Liberation Rally, a loosely structured movement whose chief task was to organize pro-RCC rallies and lectures,[63] with Nasser its secretary-general.[64] Despite the dissolution order, Nasser was the only RCC member who still favored holding parliamentary elections, according to his fellow officer Abdel Latif Boghdadi,[62] although outvoted, he still advocated holding elections by 1956.[62] In March 1953, Nasser led the Egyptian delegation negotiating a British withdrawal from the Suez Canal.[65]

When Naguib began showing signs of independence from Nasser by distancing himself from the RCC's land reform decrees and drawing closer to Egypt's established political forces, namely the Wafd and the Brotherhood,[66] Nasser resolved to depose him;[65] in June, Nasser took control of the interior ministry post from Naguib loyalist Sulayman Hafez,[66] and pressured Naguib to conclude the abolition of the monarchy.[65]

On 25 February 1954, Naguib announced his resignation after the RCC held an official meeting without his presence two days prior,[67] on 26 February, Nasser accepted the resignation, put Naguib under house arrest,[67] and the RCC proclaimed Nasser as both RCC chairman and prime minister.[68] As Naguib intended, a mutiny immediately followed, demanding Naguib's reinstatement and the RCC's dissolution.[67] While visiting the striking officers at Military Headquarters (GHQ) to call for the mutiny's end, Nasser was initially intimidated into accepting their demands.[69] However, on 27 February, Nasser's supporters in the army launched a raid on the GHQ, ending the mutiny.[70] Later that day, hundreds of thousands of protesters, mainly belonging to the Brotherhood, called for Naguib's return and Nasser's imprisonment;[71] in response, a sizable group within the RCC, led by Khaled Mohieddin, demanded Naguib's release and return to the presidency.[65] Nasser acquiesced, but delayed Naguib's reinstatement until 4 March, allowing him to promote Amer to Commander of the Armed Forces—a position formerly occupied by Naguib.[72]

On 5 March, Nasser's security coterie arrested thousands of participants in the uprising,[71] as a ruse to rally opposition against a return to the pre-1952 order, the RCC decreed an end to restrictions on monarchy-era parties and the Free Officers' withdrawal from politics.[71] The RCC succeeded in provoking the beneficiaries of the revolution, namely the workers, peasants, and petty bourgeois, to oppose the decrees,[73] with one million transport workers launching a strike and thousands of peasants entering Cairo in protest in late March.[74] Naguib sought to crack down on the protesters, but his requests were rebuffed by the heads of the security forces,[75] on 29 March, Nasser announced the decrees' revocation in response to the "impulse of the street".[75] Between April and June, hundreds of Naguib's supporters in the military were either arrested or dismissed, and Mohieddin was informally exiled to Switzerland to represent the RCC abroad.[75]King Saud of Saudi Arabia attempted to mend relations between Nasser and Naguib, but to no avail.[76]

Sound recording of 1954 assassination attempt on Nasser while he was addressing a crowd in Manshia, Alexandria.

On 26 October 1954, Muslim Brotherhood member Mahmoud Abdel-Latif attempted to assassinate Nasser while he was delivering a speech in Alexandria to celebrate the British military withdrawal, the speech was broadcast to the Arab world via radio. The gunman was 25 feet (7.6 m) away from him and fired eight shots, but all missed Nasser. Panic broke out in the mass audience, but Nasser maintained his posture and raised his voice to appeal for calm,[77][78] with great emotion he exclaimed the following:

My countrymen, my blood spills for you and for Egypt. I will live for your sake and die for the sake of your freedom and honor. Let them kill me; it does not concern me so long as I have instilled pride, honor, and freedom in you. If Gamal Abdel Nasser should die, each of you shall be Gamal Abdel Nasser ... Gamal Abdel Nasser is of you and from you and he is willing to sacrifice his life for the nation.[78]

Nasser greeted by crowds in Alexandria one day after his announcement of the British withdrawal and the assassination attempt against him, 27 October 1954.

The crowd roared in approval and Arab audiences were electrified, the assassination attempt backfired, quickly playing into Nasser's hands.[79] Upon returning to Cairo, he ordered one of the largest political crackdowns in the modern history of Egypt,[79] with the arrests of thousands of dissenters, mostly members of the Brotherhood, but also communists, and the dismissal of 140 officers loyal to Naguib.[79] Eight Brotherhood leaders were sentenced to death,[79] although the sentence of its chief ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, was commuted to a 15-year imprisonment.[80] Naguib was removed from the presidency and put under house arrest, but was never tried or sentenced, and no one in the army rose to defend him, with his rivals neutralized, Nasser became the undisputed leader of Egypt.[78]

Nasser's street following was still too small to sustain his plans for reform and to secure him in office.[81] To promote himself and the Liberation Rally, he gave speeches in a cross-country tour,[81] and imposed controls over the country's press by decreeing that all publications had to be approved by the party to prevent "sedition".[82] Both Umm Kulthum and Abdel Halim Hafez, the leading Arab singers of the era, performed songs praising Nasser's nationalism. Others produced plays denigrating his political opponents.[81] According to his associates, Nasser orchestrated the campaign himself.[81]Arab nationalist terms such "Arab homeland" and "Arab nation" frequently began appearing in his speeches in 1954–55, whereas prior he would refer to the Arab "peoples" or the "Arab region".[83] In January 1955, the RCC appointed him as their president, pending national elections.[81]

Nasser made secret contacts with Israel in 1954–55, but determined that peace with Israel would be impossible, considering it an "expansionist state that viewed the Arabs with disdain",[84] on 28 February 1955, Israeli troops attacked the Egyptian-held Gaza Strip with the stated aim of suppressing Palestinian fedayeen raids. Nasser did not feel that the Egyptian Army was ready for a confrontation and did not retaliate militarily, his failure to respond to Israeli military action demonstrated the ineffectiveness of his armed forces and constituted a blow to his growing popularity.[85][86] Nasser subsequently ordered the tightening of the blockade on Israeli shipping through the Straits of Tiran and restricted the use of airspace over the Gulf of Aqaba by Israeli aircraft in early September,[85] the Israelis re-militarized the al-Auja Demilitarized Zone on the Egyptian border on 21 September.[86]

Simultaneous with Israel's February raid, the Baghdad Pact was formed between some regional allies of the UK. Nasser considered the Baghdad Pact a threat to his efforts to eliminate British military influence in the Middle East, and a mechanism to undermine the Arab League and "perpetuate [Arab] subservience to Zionism and [Western] imperialism".[85] Nasser felt that if he was to maintain Egypt's regional leadership position he needed to acquire modern weaponry to arm his military. When it became apparent to him that Western countries would not supply Egypt under acceptable financial and military terms,[85][86][87] Nasser turned to the Eastern Bloc and concluded a US$320,000,000 armaments agreement with Czechoslovakia on 27 September.[85][86] Through the Czechoslovakian arms deal, the balance of power between Egypt and Israel was more or less equalized and Nasser's role as the Arab leader defying the West was enhanced.[86]

At the Bandung Conference in Indonesia in late April 1955, Nasser was treated as the leading representative of the Arab countries and was one of the most popular figures at the summit,[88][89] he had paid earlier visits to Pakistan (April 9),[90] India (April 14),[91]Burma, and Afghanistan on the way to Bandung,[92] and previously cemented a treaty of friendship with India in Cairo on 6 April, strengthening Egyptian–Indian relations on the international policy and economic development fronts.[93]

Nasser mediated discussions between the pro-Western, pro-Soviet, and neutralist conference factions over the composition of the "Final Communique"[88] addressing colonialism in Africa and Asia and the fostering of global peace amid the Cold War between the West and the Soviet Union. At Bandung Nasser sought a proclamation for the avoidance of international defense alliances, support for the independence of Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco from French rule, support for the Palestinian right of return, and the implementation of UN resolutions regarding the Arab–Israeli conflict. He succeeded in lobbying the attendees to pass resolutions on each of these issues, notably securing the strong support of China and India.[94]

Following Bandung, Nasser officially adopted the "positive neutralism" of Yugoslavian president Josip Broz Tito and Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as a principal theme of Egyptian foreign policy regarding the Cold War.[89][95] Nasser was welcomed by large crowds of people lining the streets of Cairo on his return to Egypt on 2 May and was widely heralded in the press for his achievements and leadership in the conference. Consequently, Nasser's prestige was greatly boosted as was his self-confidence and image.[96]

Nasser submitting his vote for the referendum of the proposed constitution, 23 June 1956

With his domestic position considerably strengthened, Nasser was able to secure primacy over his RCC colleagues and gained relatively unchallenged decision-making authority,[92] particularly over foreign policy.[97]

In January 1956, the new Constitution of Egypt was drafted, entailing the establishment of a single-party system under the National Union (NU),[97] a movement Nasser described as the "cadre through which we will realize our revolution".[98] The NU was a reconfiguration of the Liberation Rally,[99] which Nasser determined had failed in generating mass public participation;[100] in the new movement, Nasser attempted to incorporate more citizens, approved by local-level party committees, in order to solidify popular backing for his government.[100] The NU would select a nominee for the presidential election whose name would be provided for public approval.[97]

Nasser's nomination for the post and the new constitution were put to public referendum on 23 June and each was approved by an overwhelming majority.[97] A 350-member National Assembly was established,[99] elections for which were held in July 1957. Nasser had ultimate approval over all the candidates,[101] the constitution granted women's suffrage, prohibited gender-based discrimination, and entailed special protection for women in the workplace.[102] Coinciding with the new constitution and Nasser's presidency, the RCC dissolved itself and its members resigned their military commissions as part of the transition to civilian rule,[103] during the deliberations surrounding the establishment of a new government, Nasser began a process of sidelining his rivals among the original Free Officers, while elevating his closest allies to high-ranking positions in the cabinet.[97]

Nasser raising the Egyptian flag over the Suez Canal city of Port Said to celebrate the final British military withdrawal from the country, June 1956

After the three-year transition period ended with Nasser's official assumption of power, his domestic and independent foreign policies increasingly collided with the regional interests of the UK and France, the latter condemned his strong support for Algerian independence, and the UK's Eden government was agitated by Nasser's campaign against the Baghdad Pact.[103] In addition, Nasser's adherence to neutralism regarding the Cold War, recognition of communist China, and arms deal with the Eastern bloc alienated the United States. On 19 July 1956, the US and UK abruptly withdrew their offer to finance construction of the Aswan Dam,[103] citing concerns that Egypt's economy would be overwhelmed by the project.[104]

Nasser was informed of the British–American withdrawal via a news statement while aboard a plane returning to Cairo from Belgrade, and took great offense,[105] although ideas for nationalizing the Suez Canal were in the offing after the UK agreed to withdraw its military from Egypt in 1954 (the last British troops left on 13 June 1956), journalist Mohamed Hassanein Heikal asserts that Nasser made the final decision to nationalize the waterway between 19 and 20 July.[105] Nasser himself would later state that he decided on 23 July, after studying the issue and deliberating with some of his advisers from the dissolved RCC, namely Boghdadi and technical specialist Mahmoud Younis, beginning on 21 July,[105] the rest of the RCC's former members were informed of the decision on 24 July, while the bulk of the cabinet was unaware of the nationalization scheme until hours before Nasser publicly announced it.[105] According to Ramadan, Nasser's decision to nationalize the canal was a solitary decision, taken without consultation.[106]

On 26 July 1956, Nasser gave a speech in Alexandria announcing the nationalization of the Suez Canal Company as a means to fund the Aswan Dam project in light of the British–American withdrawal;[107] in the speech, he denounced British imperialism in Egypt and British control over the canal company's profits, and upheld that the Egyptian people had a right to sovereignty over the waterway, especially since "120,000 Egyptians had died (sic)" building it.[107] The motion was technically in breach of the international agreement he had signed with the UK on 19 October 1954,[108] although he ensured that all existing stockholders would be paid off.[109]

The nationalization announcement was greeted very emotionally by the audience and, throughout the Arab world, thousands entered the streets shouting slogans of support.[110] US ambassador Henry A. Byroade stated, "I cannot overemphasize [the] popularity of the Canal Company nationalization within Egypt, even among Nasser's enemies."[108] Egyptian political scientist Mahmoud Hamad wrote that, prior to 1956, Nasser had consolidated control over Egypt's military and civilian bureaucracies, but it was only after the canal's nationalization that he gained near-total popular legitimacy and firmly established himself as the "charismatic leader" and "spokesman for the masses not only in Egypt, but all over the Third World".[111] According to Aburish, this was Nasser's largest pan-Arab triumph at the time and "soon his pictures were to be found in the tents of Yemen, the souks of Marrakesh, and the posh villas of Syria",[110] the official reason given for the nationalization was that funds from the canal would be used for the construction of the dam in Aswan.[108] That same day, Egypt closed the canal to Israeli shipping.[109]

Movietone newsreels reporting Nasser's nationalization of the Suez Canal and both domestic and Western reactions

France and the UK, the largest shareholders in the Suez Canal Company, saw its nationalization as yet another hostile measure aimed at them by the Egyptian government. Nasser was aware that the canal's nationalization would instigate an international crisis and believed the prospect of military intervention by the two countries was 80 percent likely.[112] Nasser dismissed their claims,[113] and believed that the UK would not be able to intervene militarily for at least two months after the announcement, and dismissed Israeli action as "impossible";[114] in early October, the UN Security Council met on the matter of the canal's nationalization and adopted a resolution recognizing Egypt's right to control the canal as long as it continued to allow passage through it for foreign ships.[115] According to Heikal, after this agreement, "Nasser estimated that the danger of invasion had dropped to 10 percent".[116] Shortly thereafter, however, the UK, France, and Israel made a secret agreement to take over the Suez Canal, occupy the Suez Canal zone,[108][117] and topple Nasser.[118][119][120]

On 29 October 1956, Israeli forces crossed the Sinai Peninsula, overwhelmed Egyptian army posts, and quickly advanced to their objectives. Two days later, British and French planes bombarded Egyptian airfields in the canal zone.[121] Nasser ordered the military's high command to withdraw the Egyptian Army from Sinai to bolster the canal's defenses.[122] Moreover, he feared that if the armored corps was dispatched to confront the Israeli invading force and the British and French subsequently landed in the canal city of Port Said, Egyptian armor in the Sinai would be cut off from the canal and destroyed by the combined tripartite forces.[122] Amer strongly disagreed, insisting that Egyptian tanks meet the Israelis in battle,[122] the two had a heated exchange on 3 November, and Amer conceded.[122] Nasser also ordered blockage of the canal by sinking or otherwise disabling forty-nine ships at its entrance.[121]

Despite the commanded withdrawal of Egyptian troops, about 2,000 Egyptian soldiers were killed during engagement with Israeli forces,[123] and some 5,000 Egyptian soldiers were captured by the Israeli Army.[122] Amer and Salah Salem proposed requesting a ceasefire, with Salem further recommending that Nasser surrender himself to British forces.[108] Nasser berated Amer and Salem, and vowed, "Nobody is going to surrender."[121] Nasser assumed military command, despite the relative ease in which Sinai was occupied, Nasser's prestige at home and among Arabs was undamaged.[124] To counterbalance the Egyptian Army's dismal performance, Nasser authorized the distribution of about 400,000 rifles to civilian volunteers and hundreds of militias were formed throughout Egypt, many led by Nasser's political opponents.[125]

It was at Port Said that Nasser saw a confrontation with the invading forces as being the strategic and psychological focal point of Egypt's defense.[126] A third infantry battalion and hundreds of national guardsmen were sent to the city as reinforcements, while two regular companies were dispatched to organize popular resistance.[126] Nasser and Boghdadi traveled to the canal zone to boost the morale of the armed volunteers. According to Boghdadi's memoirs, Nasser described the Egyptian Army as "shattered" as he saw the wreckage of Egyptian military equipment en route.[126] When British and French forces landed in Port Said on 5–6 November, its local militia put up a stiff resistance, resulting in street-to-street fighting,[125][127] the Egyptian Army commander in the city was preparing to request terms for a ceasefire, but Nasser ordered him to desist. The British-French forces managed to largely secure the city by 7 November.[127] Between 750 and 1,000 Egyptians were killed in the battle for Port Said.[123]

The US Eisenhower administration condemned the tripartite invasion, and supported UN resolutions demanding withdrawal and a United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) to be stationed in Sinai.[128] Nasser commended Eisenhower, stating he played the "greatest and most decisive role" in stopping the "tripartite conspiracy".[129] By the end of December, British and French forces had totally withdrawn from Egyptian territory,[128] while Israel completed its withdrawal in March 1957 and released all Egyptian prisoners of war,[123][130] as a result of the Suez Crisis, Nasser brought in a set of regulations imposing rigorous requirements for residency and citizenship as well as forced expulsions, mostly affecting British and French nationals and Jews with foreign nationality, as well as many Egyptian Jews.[131] Some 25,000 Jews, almost half of the Jewish community, left in 1956, mainly for Israel, Europe, the United States and South America.[132][133][134]

After the fighting ended, Amer accused Nasser of provoking an unnecessary war and then blaming the military for the result,[135] on 8 April, the canal was reopened,[136] and Nasser's political position was enormously enhanced by the widely perceived failure of the invasion and attempt to topple him. British diplomat Anthony Nutting claimed the crisis "established Nasser finally and completely" as the rayyes (president) of Egypt.[108]

By 1957, pan-Arabism had become the dominant ideology in the Arab world, and the average Arab citizen considered Nasser his undisputed leader.[137] Historian Adeed Dawisha credited Nasser's status to his "charisma, bolstered by his perceived victory in the Suez Crisis",[137] the Cairo-based Voice of the Arabs radio station spread Nasser's ideas of united Arab action throughout the Arabic-speaking world, so much so that historian Eugene Rogan wrote, "Nasser conquered the Arab world by radio."[138] Lebanese sympathizers of Nasser and the Egyptian embassy in Beirut—the press center of the Arab world—bought out Lebanese media outlets to further disseminate Nasser's ideals.[139] Egypt also expanded its policy of secondment, dispatching thousands of high-skilled Egyptian professionals (usually politically-active teachers) across the region.[140] Nasser also enjoyed the support of Arab nationalist civilian and paramilitary organizations throughout the region, his followers were numerous and well-funded, but lacked any permanent structure and organization. They called themselves "Nasserites", despite Nasser's objection to the label (he preferred the term "Arab nationalists").[139]

In January 1957, the US adopted the Eisenhower Doctrine and pledged to prevent the spread of communism and its perceived agents in the Middle East,[141] although Nasser was an opponent of communism in the region, his promotion of pan-Arabism was viewed as a threat by pro-Western states in the region.[141][142] Eisenhower tried to isolate Nasser and reduce his regional influence by attempting to transform King Saud into a counterweight.[141][142] Also in January, the elected Jordanian prime minister and Nasser supporter[143]Sulayman al-Nabulsi brought Jordan into a military pact with Egypt, Syria, and Saudi Arabia.[144]

Relations between Nasser and King Hussein deteriorated in April when Hussein implicated Nasser in two coup attempts against him[144][145]—although Nasser's involvement was never established[146][147]—and dissolved al-Nabulsi's cabinet.[144][145] Nasser subsequently slammed Hussein on Cairo radio as being "a tool of the imperialists".[148] Relations with King Saud also became antagonistic as the latter began to fear that Nasser's increasing popularity in Saudi Arabia was a genuine threat to the royal family's survival,[144] despite opposition from the governments of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Lebanon, Nasser maintained his prestige among their citizens and those of other Arab countries.[139]

By the end of 1957, Nasser nationalized all remaining British and French assets in Egypt, including the tobacco, cement, pharmaceutical, and phosphate industries.[149] When efforts to offer tax incentives and attract outside investments yielded no tangible results, he nationalized more companies and made them a part of his economic development organization,[149] he stopped short of total government control: two-thirds of the economy was still in private hands.[149] This effort achieved a measure of success, with increased agricultural production and investment in industrialization.[149] Nasser initiated the Helwan steelworks, which subsequently became Egypt's largest enterprise, providing the country with product and tens of thousands of jobs.[149] Nasser also decided to cooperate with the Soviet Union in the construction of the Aswan Dam to replace the withdrawal of US funds.[149]

Newsreel clip about Nasser and Quwatli's establishment of United Arab Republic

Despite his popularity with the people of the Arab world, by mid-1957 his only regional ally was Syria;[150] in September, Turkish troops massed along the Syrian border, giving credence to rumors that the Baghdad Pact countries were attempting to topple Syria's leftist government.[150] Nasser sent a contingent force to Syria as a symbolic display of solidarity, further elevating his prestige in the Arab world, and particularly among Syrians.[150]

As political instability grew in Syria, delegations from the country were sent to Nasser demanding immediate unification with Egypt.[151] Nasser initially turned down the request, citing the two countries' incompatible political and economic systems, lack of contiguity, the Syrian military's record of intervention in politics, and the deep factionalism among Syria's political forces.[151] However, in January 1958, a second Syrian delegation managed to convince Nasser of an impending communist takeover and a consequent slide to civil strife.[152] Nasser subsequently opted for union, albeit on the condition that it would be a total political merger with him as its president, to which the delegates and Syrian president Shukri al-Quwatli agreed,[153] on 1 February, the United Arab Republic (UAR) was proclaimed and, according to Dawisha, the Arab world reacted in "stunned amazement, which quickly turned into uncontrolled euphoria."[154] Nasser ordered a crackdown against Syrian communists, dismissing many of them from their governmental posts.[155][156]

Nasser seated alongside Crown Prince Muhammad al-Badr of North Yemen (center) and Shukri al-Quwatli (right), February 1958. North Yemen joined the UAR to form the United Arab States, a loose confederation.

On a surprise visit to Damascus to celebrate the union on 24 February, Nasser was welcomed by crowds in the hundreds of thousands.[157] Crown Prince Imam Badr of North Yemen was dispatched to Damascus with proposals to include his country in the new republic. Nasser agreed to establish a loose federal union with Yemen—the United Arab States—in place of total integration.[158] While Nasser was in Syria, King Saud planned to have him assassinated on his return flight to Cairo,[159] on 4 March, Nasser addressed the masses in Damascus and waved before them the Saudi check given to Syrian security chief and, unbeknownst to the Saudis, ardent Nasser supporter Abdel Hamid Sarraj to shoot down Nasser's plane.[160] As a consequence of Saud's plot, he was forced by senior members of the Saudi royal family to informally cede most of his powers to his brother, King Faisal, a major Nasser opponent who advocated pan-Islamic unity over pan-Arabism.[161]

A day after announcing the attempt on his life, Nasser established a new provisional constitution proclaiming a 600-member National Assembly (400 from Egypt and 200 from Syria) and the dissolution of all political parties.[161] Nasser gave each of the provinces two vice-presidents: Boghdadi and Amer in Egypt, and Sabri al-Asali and Akram al-Hawrani in Syria.[161] Nasser then left for Moscow to meet with Nikita Khrushchev, at the meeting, Khrushchev pressed Nasser to lift the ban on the Communist Party, but Nasser refused, stating it was an internal matter which was not a subject of discussion with outside powers. Khrushchev was reportedly taken aback and denied he had meant to interfere in the UAR's affairs, the matter was settled as both leaders sought to prevent a rift between their two countries.[162]

The holy march on which the Arab nation insists, will carry us forward from one victory to another ... the flag of freedom which flies over Baghdad today will fly over Amman and Riyadh. Yes, the flag of freedom which flies over Cairo, Damascus, and Baghdad today will fly over the rest of the Middle East ...

In Lebanon, clashes between pro-Nasser factions and supporters of staunch Nasser opponent, then-President Camille Chamoun, culminated in civil strife by May,[164] the former sought to unite with the UAR, while the latter sought Lebanon's continued independence.[164] Nasser delegated oversight of the issue to Sarraj, who provided limited aid to Nasser's Lebanese supporters through money, light arms, and officer training[165]—short of the large-scale support that Chamoun alleged.[166][167] Nasser did not covet Lebanon, seeing it as a "special case", but sought to prevent Chamoun from a second presidential term.[168]

On 14 July 1958, Iraqi army officers Abdel Karim Qasim and Abdel Salam Aref overthrew the Iraqi monarchy and, the next day, Iraqi prime minister and Nasser's chief Arab antagonist, Nuri al-Said, was killed.[169] The entire Iraqi royal family was killed, and Al-Said's and Iraqi crown prince 'Abd al-Ilah's bodies were mutilated and dragged across Baghdad.[170] Nasser recognized the new government and stated that "any attack on Iraq was tantamount to an attack on the UAR",[171] on 15 July, US marines landed in Lebanon, and British special forces in Jordan, upon the request of those countries' governments to prevent them from falling to pro-Nasser forces. Nasser felt that the revolution in Iraq left the road for pan-Arab unity unblocked,[171] on 19 July, for the first time, he declared that he was opting for full Arab union, although he had no plan to merge Iraq with the UAR.[163] While most members of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) favored Iraqi-UAR unity,[172] Qasim sought to keep Iraq independent and resented Nasser's large popular base in the country.[169]

In the fall of 1958, Nasser formed a tripartite committee consisting of Zakaria Mohieddin, al-Hawrani, and Salah Bitar to oversee developments in Syria.[173] By moving the latter two, who were Ba'athists, to Cairo, he neutralized important political figures who had their own ideas about how Syria should be run,[173] he put Syria under Sarraj, who effectively reduced the province to a police state by imprisoning and exiling landholders who objected to the introduction of Egyptian agricultural reform in Syria, as well as communists.[173] Following the Lebanese election of Fuad Chehab in September 1958, relations between Lebanon and the UAR improved considerably,[174] on 25 March 1959, Chehab and Nasser met at the Lebanese–Syrian border and compromised on an end to the Lebanese crisis.[174]

Relations between Nasser and Qasim grew increasingly bitter on 9 March,[175] after Qasim's forces suppressed a rebellion in Mosul, launched a day earlier by a pro-Nasser Iraqi RCC officer backed by UAR authorities.[176] Nasser had considered dispatching troops to aid his Iraqi sympathizers, but decided against it,[177] he clamped down on Egyptian communist activity due to the key backing Iraqi communists provided Qasim. Several influential communists were arrested, including Nasser's old comrade Khaled Mohieddin, who had been allowed to re-enter Egypt in 1956.[175]

By December, the political situation in Syria was faltering and Nasser responded by appointing Amer as governor-general alongside Sarraj. Syria's leaders opposed the appointment and many resigned from their government posts. Nasser later met with the opposition leaders and in a heated moment, exclaimed that he was the "elected" president of the UAR and those who did not accept his authority could "walk away".[173]

Opposition to the union mounted among some of Syria's key elements,[178] namely the socioeconomic, political, and military elites;[179] in response to Syria's worsening economy, which Nasser attributed to its control by the bourgeoisie, in July 1961, Nasser decreed socialist measures that nationalized wide-ranging sectors of the Syrian economy.[180] He also dismissed Sarraj in September to curb the growing political crisis. Aburish states that Nasser was not fully capable of addressing Syrian problems because they were "foreign to him";[181] in Egypt, the economic situation was more positive, with a GNP growth of 4.5 percent and a rapid growth of industry.[181] In 1960, Nasser nationalized the Egyptian press, which had already been cooperating with his government, in order to steer coverage towards the country's socioeconomic issues and galvanize public support for his socialist measures.[82]

On 28 September 1961, secessionist army units launched a coup in Damascus, declaring Syria's secession from the UAR;[182] in response, pro-union army units in northern Syria revolted and pro-Nasser protests occurred in major Syrian cities.[179] Nasser sent Egyptian special forces to Latakia to bolster his allies, but withdrew them two days later, citing a refusal to allow inter-Arab fighting.[183] Addressing the UAR's breakup on 5 October,[184] Nasser accepted personal responsibility[183] and declared that Egypt would recognize an elected Syrian government,[184] he privately blamed interference by hostile Arab governments.[183] According to Heikal, Nasser suffered something resembling a nervous breakdown after the dissolution of the union; he began to smoke more heavily and his health began to deteriorate.[183]

Nasser's regional position changed unexpectedly when Yemeni officers led by Nasser supporter Abdullah al-Sallal overthrew Imam Badr of North Yemen on 27 September 1962.[185] Al-Badr and his tribal partisans began receiving increasing support from Saudi Arabia to help reinstate the kingdom, while Nasser subsequently accepted a request by Sallal to militarily aid the new government on 30 September.[186] Consequently, Egypt became increasingly embroiled in the drawn-out civil war until it withdrew its forces in 1967.[186] Most of Nasser's old colleagues had questioned the wisdom of continuing the war, but Amer reassured Nasser of their coming victory.[187] Nasser later remarked in 1968 that intervention in Yemen was a "miscalculation".[186]

In July 1962, Algeria became independent of France,[187] as a staunch political and financial supporter of the Algerian independence movement, Nasser considered the country's independence to be a personal victory.[187] Amid these developments, a pro-Nasser clique in the Saudi royal family led by Prince Talal defected to Egypt, along with the Jordanian chief of staff, in early 1963.[188]

Nasser before Yemeni crowds on his arrival to Sana'a, April 1964. In front of Nasser and giving a salute is Yemeni President Abdullah al-Sallal

On 8 February 1963, a military coup in Iraq led by a Ba'athist–Nasserist alliance toppled Qasim, who was subsequently shot dead. Abdel Salam Aref, a Nasserist, was chosen to be the new president.[187] A similar alliance toppled the Syrian government on 8 March,[189] on 14 March, the new Iraqi and Syrian governments sent Nasser delegations to push for a new Arab union.[190] At the meeting, Nasser lambasted the Ba'athists for "facilitating" Syria's split from the UAR,[191] and asserted that he was the "leader of the Arabs".[190] A transitional unity agreement stipulating a federal system[190] was signed by the parties on 17 April and the new union was set to be established in May 1965.[192] However, the agreement fell apart weeks later when Syria's Ba'athists purged Nasser's supporters from the officers corps. A failed counter-coup by a Nasserist colonel followed, after which Nasser condemned the Ba'athists as "fascists".[193]

In January 1964, Nasser called for an Arab League summit in Cairo to establish a unified Arab response against Israel's plans to divert the Jordan River's waters for economic purposes, which Syria and Jordan deemed an act of war.[194] Nasser blamed Arab divisions for what he deemed "the disastrous situation",[195] he discouraged Syria and Palestinian guerrillas from provoking the Israelis, conceding that he had no plans for war with Israel.[195] During the summit, Nasser developed cordial relations with King Hussein, and ties were mended with the rulers of Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Morocco;[194] in May, Nasser moved to formally share his leadership position over the Palestine issue[195] by initiating the creation of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).[195][196] In practice, Nasser used the PLO to wield control over the Palestinian fedayeen,[196] its head was to be Ahmad Shukeiri, Nasser's personal nominee.[195]

After years of foreign policy coordination and developing ties, Nasser, President Sukarno of Indonesia, President Tito of Yugoslavia, and Prime Minister Nehru of India founded the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in 1961.[197] Its declared purpose was to solidify international non-alignment and promote world peace amid the Cold War, end colonization, and increase economic cooperation among developing countries;[198] in 1964, Nasser was made president of the NAM and held the second conference of the organization in Cairo.[199]

Nasser played a significant part in the strengthening of African solidarity in the late 1950s and early 1960s, although his continental leadership role had increasingly passed to Algeria since 1962,[200] during this period, Nasser made Egypt a refuge for anti-colonial leaders from several African countries and allowed the broadcast of anti-colonial propaganda from Cairo.[200] Beginning in 1958, Nasser had a key role in the discussions among African leaders that led to the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963.[200]

In 1961, Nasser sought to firmly establish Egypt as the leader of the Arab world and to promote a second revolution in Egypt with the purpose of merging Islamic and socialist thinking.[201] To achieve this, he initiated several reforms to modernize al-Azhar, which serves as the de facto leading authority in Sunni Islam, and to ensure its prominence over the Muslim Brotherhood and the more conservative Wahhabism promoted by Saudi Arabia.[201] Nasser had used al-Azhar's most willing ulema (scholars) as a counterweight to the Brotherhood's Islamic influence, starting in 1953.[62]

Nasser instructed al-Azhar to create changes in its syllabus that trickled to the lower levels of Egyptian education, consequently allowing the establishment of coeducational schools and the introduction of evolution into school curriculum, the reforms also included the merger of religious and civil courts.[201] Moreover, Nasser forced al-Azhar to issue a fatwā admitting Shia Muslims, Alawites, and Druze into mainstream Islam; for centuries prior, al-Azhar deemed them to be "heretics".[201]

Following Syria's secession, Nasser grew concerned with Amer's inability to train and modernize the army, and with the state within a state Amer had created in the military command and intelligence apparatus;[202][203] in late 1961, Nasser established the Presidential Council and decreed it the authority to approve all senior military appointments, instead of leaving this responsibility solely to Amer.[204][205] Moreover, he instructed that the primary criterion for promotion should be merit and not personal loyalties.[204] Nasser retracted the initiative after Amer's allies in the officers corps threatened to mobilize against him.[205]

In early 1962 Nasser again attempted to wrest control of the military command from Amer.[205] Amer responded by directly confronting Nasser for the first time and secretly rallying his loyalist officers.[204][206] Nasser ultimately backed down, wary of a possible violent confrontation between the military and his civilian government.[207] According to Boghdadi, the stress caused by the UAR's collapse and Amer's increasing autonomy forced Nasser, who already had diabetes, to practically live on painkillers from then on.[208]

Nasser being sworn in for a second term as Egypt's president, 25 March 1965

In October 1961, Nasser embarked on a major nationalization program for Egypt, believing the total adoption of socialism was the answer to his country's problems and would have prevented Syria's secession;[209] in order to organize and solidify his popular base with Egypt's citizens and counter the army's influence, Nasser introduced the National Charter in 1962 and a new constitution.[202] The charter called for universal health care, affordable housing, vocational schools, greater women's rights and a family planning program, as well as widening the Suez Canal.[202]

Nasser also attempted to maintain oversight of the country's civil service to prevent it from inflating and consequently becoming a burden to the state.[202] New laws provided workers with a minimum wage, profit shares, free education, free health care, reduced working hours, and encouragement to participate in management. Land reforms guaranteed the security of tenant farmers,[210] promoted agricultural growth, and reduced rural poverty,[211] as a result of the 1962 measures, government ownership of Egyptian business reached 51 percent,[212] and the National Union was renamed the Arab Socialist Union (ASU).[209] With these measures came more domestic repression, as thousands of Islamists were imprisoned, including dozens of military officers.[209] Nasser's tilt toward a Soviet-style system led his aides Boghdadi and Hussein el-Shafei to submit their resignations in protest.[185]

During the presidential referendum in Egypt, Nasser was re-elected to a second term as UAR president and took his oath on 25 March 1965, he was the only candidate for the position, with virtually all of his political opponents forbidden by law from running for office, and his fellow party members reduced to mere followers. That same year, Nasser had the Muslim Brotherhood chief ideologue Sayyed Qutb imprisoned.[213] Qutb was charged and found guilty by the court of plotting to assassinate Nasser, and was executed in 1966.[213] Beginning in 1966, as Egypt's economy slowed and government debt became increasingly burdensome, Nasser began to ease state control over the private sector, encouraging state-owned bank loans to private business and introducing incentives to increase exports,[214] during the 60's, the Egyptian economy went from sluggishness to the verge of collapse, the society became less free, and Nasser's appeal waned considerably.[215]

In mid May 1967, the Soviet Union issued warnings to Nasser of an impending Israeli attack on Syria, although Chief of Staff Mohamed Fawzi considered the warnings to be "baseless".[216][217] According to Kandil, without Nasser's authorization, Amer used the Soviet warnings as a pretext to dispatch troops to Sinai on 14 May, and Nasser subsequently demanded UNEF's withdrawal.[217][218] Earlier that day, Nasser received a warning from King Hussein of Israeli-American collusion to drag Egypt into war,[219] the message had been originally received by Amer on 2 May, but was withheld from Nasser until the Sinai deployment on 14 May.[219][220] Although in the preceding months, Hussein and Nasser had been accusing each other of avoiding a fight with Israel,[221] Hussein was nonetheless wary that an Egyptian-Israeli war would risk the West Bank's occupation by Israel.[219] Nasser still felt that the US would restrain Israel from attacking due to assurances that he received from the US and Soviet Union;[222] in turn, he also reassured both powers that Egypt would only act defensively.[222]

On 21 May, Amer asked Nasser to order the Straits of Tiran blockaded, a move Nasser believed Israel would use as a casus belli.[219] Amer reassured him that the army was prepared for confrontation,[223][224] but Nasser doubted Amer's assessment of the military's readiness.[223] According to Nasser's vice president Zakaria Mohieddin, although "Amer had absolute authority over the armed forces, Nasser had his ways of knowing what was really going on".[225] Moreover, Amer anticipated an impending Israeli attack and advocated a preemptive strike.[226][227] Nasser refused the call[227][228] upon determination that the air force lacked pilots and Amer's handpicked officers were incompetent.[228] Still, Nasser concluded that if Israel attacked, Egypt's quantitative advantage in manpower and arms could stave off Israeli forces for at least two weeks, allowing for diplomacy towards a ceasefire.[229] Towards the end of May, Nasser increasingly exchanged his positions of deterrence for deference to the inevitability of war,[229][230] under increased pressure to act by both the general Arab populace and various Arab governments,[216][231] on 26 May Nasser declared, "our basic objective will be to destroy Israel".[232] On 30 May, King Hussein committed Jordan in an alliance with Egypt and Syria.[233]

On the morning of 5 June, the Israeli Air Force struck Egyptian air fields, destroying much of the Egyptian Air Force, before the day ended, Israeli armored units had cut through Egyptian defense lines and captured the town of el-Arish.[234] The next day, Amer ordered the immediate withdrawal of Egyptian troops from Sinai—causing the majority of Egyptian casualties during the war.[235] Israel quickly captured Sinai and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, the West Bank from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria.

According to Sadat, it was only when the Israelis cut off the Egyptian garrison at Sharm el-Sheikh that Nasser became aware of the situation's gravity,[234] after hearing of the attack, he rushed to army headquarters to inquire about the military situation.[236] The simmering conflict between Nasser and Amer subsequently came to the fore, and officers present reported the pair burst into "a nonstop shouting match",[236] the Supreme Executive Committee, set up by Nasser to oversee the conduct of the war, attributed the repeated Egyptian defeats to the Nasser–Amer rivalry and Amer's overall incompetence.[234] According to Egyptian diplomat Ismail Fahmi, who became foreign minister during Sadat's presidency, the Israeli invasion and Egypt's consequent defeat was a result of Nasser's dismissal of all rational analysis of the situation and his undertaking of a series of irrational decisions.[237]

I have taken a decision with which I need your help. I have decided to withdraw totally and for good from any official post or political role, and to return to the ranks of the masses, performing my duty in their midst, like any other citizen, this is a time for action, not grief. ... My whole heart is with you, and let your hearts be with me. May God be with us—hope, light, and guidance in our hearts.

“

”

Nasser's 9 June resignation speech, which was retracted the next day[238]

During the first four days of the war, the general population of the Arab world believed Arab radio station fabrications of imminent Arab victory,[238] on 9 June, Nasser appeared on television to inform Egypt's citizens of their country's defeat.[238][239] He announced his resignation on television later that day, and ceded all presidential powers to his then-Vice President Zakaria Mohieddin, who had no prior information of this decision and refused to accept the post.[239] Hundreds of thousands of sympathizers poured into the streets in mass demonstrations throughout Egypt and across the Arab world rejecting his resignation,[240] chanting, "We are your soldiers, Gamal!"[241] Nasser retracted his decision the next day.[241]

Egyptian demonstrators protesting Nasser's resignation, 1967

On 11 July, Nasser replaced Amer with Mohamed Fawzi as general commander,[242][243] over the protestations of Amer's loyalists in the military, 600 of whom marched on army headquarters and demanded Amer's reinstatement,[244] after Nasser sacked thirty of the loyalists in response,[244] Amer and his allies devised a plan to topple him on 27 August.[245] Nasser was tipped off about their activities and, after several invitations, he convinced Amer to meet him at his home on 24 August.[245] Nasser confronted Amer about the coup plot, which he denied before being arrested by Mohieddin. Amer committed suicide on 14 September,[246] despite his souring relationship with Amer, Nasser spoke of losing "the person closest to [him]".[247] Thereafter, Nasser began a process of depoliticizing the armed forces, arresting dozens of leading military and intelligence figures loyal to Amer.[246]

At the 29 August Arab League summit in Khartoum, Nasser's usual commanding position had receded as the attending heads of state expected Saudi King Faisal to lead. A ceasefire in the Yemen War was declared and the summit concluded with the Khartoum Resolution,[248] the Soviet Union soon resupplied the Egyptian military with about half of its former arsenals and broke diplomatic relations with Israel. Nasser cut relations with the US following the war, and, according to Aburish, his policy of "playing the superpowers against each other" ended;[249] in November, Nasser accepted UN Resolution 242, which called for Israel's withdrawal from territories acquired in the war. His supporters claimed Nasser's move was meant to buy time to prepare for another confrontation with Israel, while his detractors believed his acceptance of the resolution signaled a waning interest in Palestinian independence.[250]

Nasser appointed himself the additional roles of prime minister and supreme commander of the armed forces on 19 June 1967.[251] Angry at the military court's perceived leniency with air force officers charged with negligence during the 1967 war, workers and students launched protests calling for major political reforms in late February 1968.[252][253] Nasser responded to the demonstrations, the most significant public challenge to his rule since workers' protests in March 1954, by removing most military figures from his cabinet and appointing eight civilians in place of several high-ranking members of the Arab Socialist Union (ASU).[254][255] By 3 March, Nasser directed Egypt's intelligence apparatus to focus on external rather than domestic espionage, and declared the "fall of the mukhabarat state".[255]

On 30 March, Nasser proclaimed a manifesto stipulating the restoration of civil liberties, greater parliamentary independence from the executive,[253] major structural changes to the ASU, and a campaign to rid the government of corrupt elements.[254] A public referendum approved the proposed measures in May, and held subsequent elections for the Supreme Executive Committee, the ASU's highest decision-making body.[253] Observers noted that the declaration signaled an important shift from political repression to liberalization, although its promises would largely go unfulfilled.[254]

Nasser appointed Sadat and Hussein el-Shafei as his vice presidents in December 1969. By then, relations with his other original military comrades, namely Khaled and Zakaria Mohieddin and former vice president Sabri, had become strained.[256] By mid-1970, Nasser pondered replacing Sadat with Boghdadi after reconciling with the latter.[257]

Meanwhile, in January 1968, Nasser commenced the War of Attrition to reclaim territory captured by Israel, ordering attacks against Israeli positions east of the then-blockaded Suez Canal;[258] in March, Nasser offered Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement arms and funds after their performance against Israeli forces in the Battle of Karameh that month.[259] He also advised Arafat to think of peace with Israel and the establishment of a Palestinian state comprising the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.[259] Nasser effectively ceded his leadership of the "Palestine issue" to Arafat.[250]

Israel retaliated against Egyptian shelling with commando raids, artillery shelling and air strikes, this resulted in an exodus of civilians from Egyptian cities along the Suez Canal's western bank.[260][261][262] Nasser ceased all military activities and began a program to build a network of internal defenses, while receiving the financial backing of various Arab states,[262] the war resumed in March 1969.[262] In November, Nasser brokered an agreement between the PLO and the Lebanese military that granted Palestinian guerrillas the right to use Lebanese territory to attack Israel.[263]

In June 1970, Nasser accepted the US-sponsored Rogers Plan, which called for an end to hostilities and an Israeli withdrawal from Egyptian territory, but it was rejected by Israel, the PLO, and most Arab states except Jordan.[257] Nasser had initially rejected the plan, but conceded under pressure from the Soviet Union, which feared that escalating regional conflict could drag it into a war with the US,[264][265] he also determined that a ceasefire could serve as a tactical step toward the strategic goal of recapturing the Suez Canal.[266] Nasser forestalled any movement toward direct negotiations with Israel; in dozens of speeches and statements, Nasser posited the equation that any direct peace talks with Israel were tantamount to surrender.[267] Following Nasser's acceptance, Israel agreed to a ceasefire and Nasser used the lull in fighting to move SAM missiles towards the canal zone.[264][265]

Meanwhile, tensions in Jordan between an increasingly autonomous PLO and King Hussein's government had been simmering;[268] following the Dawson's Field hijackings, a military campaign was launched to rout out PLO forces. The offensive elevated risks of a regional war and prompted Nasser to hold an emergency Arab League summit on 27 September in Cairo,[269] where he forged a ceasefire.[270]

Nasser's funeral procession attended by five million mourners in Cairo, 1 October 1970

As the summit closed on 28 September 1970, hours after escorting the last Arab leader to leave, Nasser suffered a heart attack, he was immediately transported to his house, where his physicians tended to him. Nasser died several hours later, around 6 p.m.[271] Heikal, Sadat, and Nasser's wife Tahia were at his deathbed.[272] According to his doctor, al-Sawi Habibi, Nasser's likely cause of death was arteriosclerosis, varicose veins, and complications from long-standing diabetes. Nasser was a heavy smoker with a family history of heart disease—two of his brothers died in their fifties from the same condition,[273] the state of Nasser's health was not known to the public prior to his death.[273][274] He had previously suffered heart attacks in 1966 and September 1969.

Following the announcement of Nasser's death, Egypt and the Arab world were in a state of shock.[272] Nasser's funeral procession through Cairo on 1 October was attended by at least five million mourners,[275][276] the 10-kilometer (6.2 mi) procession to his burial site began at the old RCC headquarters with a flyover by MiG-21 jets. His flag-draped coffin was attached to a gun carriage pulled by six horses and led by a column of cavalrymen.[276] All Arab heads of state attended, with the exception of Saudi King Faisal.[277] King Hussein and Arafat cried openly, and Muammar Gaddafi of Libya fainted from emotional distress twice.[275] A few major non-Arab dignitaries were present, including Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin and French Prime Minister Jacques Chaban-Delmas.[275]

Almost immediately after the procession began, mourners engulfed Nasser's coffin chanting, "There is no God but Allah, and Nasser is God's beloved… Each of us is Nasser."[276] Police unsuccessfully attempted to quell the crowds and, as a result, most of the foreign dignitaries were evacuated,[276] the final destination was the Nasr Mosque, which was afterwards renamed Abdel Nasser Mosque, where Nasser was buried.[276]

Because of his ability to motivate nationalistic passions, "men, women, and children wept and wailed in the streets" after hearing of his death, according to Nutting,[271] the general Arab reaction was one of mourning, with thousands of people pouring onto the streets of major cities throughout the Arab world.[276] Over a dozen people were killed in Beirut as a result of the chaos, and in Jerusalem, roughly 75,000 Arabs marched through the Old City chanting, "Nasser will never die."[276] As a testament to his unchallenged leadership of the Arab people, following his death, the headline of the Lebanese Le Jour read, "One hundred million human beings—the Arabs—are orphans."[278]Sherif Hetata, a former political prisoner[279] and later member Nasser's ASU,[280] said that "Nasser's greatest achievement was his funeral. The world will never again see five million people crying together."[275]

Nasser presenting prominent writer Taha Hussein (standing in front of Nasser with sunglasses) with a national honors prize for literature, 1959

Nasser made Egypt fully independent of British influence,[281][282] and the country became a major power in the developing world under his leadership.[281] One of Nasser's main domestic efforts was to establish social justice, which he deemed a prerequisite to liberal democracy,[283] during his presidency, ordinary citizens enjoyed unprecedented access to housing, education, jobs, health services and nourishment, as well as other forms of social welfare, while feudalistic influence waned.[281][284] By the end of his presidency, employment and working conditions improved considerably, although poverty was still high in the country and substantial resources allocated for social welfare had been diverted to the war effort.[283]

The national economy grew significantly through agrarian reform, major modernization projects such as the Helwan steel works and the Aswan Dam, and nationalization schemes such as that of the Suez Canal.[281][284] However, the marked economic growth of the early 1960s took a downturn for the remainder of the decade, only recovering in 1970.[285] Egypt experienced a "golden age" of culture during Nasser's presidency, according to historian Joel Gordon, particularly in film, television, theater, radio, literature, fine arts, comedy, poetry, and music.[286] Egypt under Nasser dominated the Arab world in these fields,[284][286] producing cultural icons.[284]

Nasser speaking to a homeless Egyptian man and offering him a job, after the man was found sleeping below the stage where Nasser was seated, 1959

Nasser was known for his intimate relationship with ordinary Egyptians,[294][295] his availability to the public, despite assassination attempts against him, was unparalleled among his successors.[296] A skilled orator,[297] Nasser gave 1,359 speeches between 1953 and 1970, a record for any Egyptian head of state.[298] Historian Elie Podeh wrote that a constant theme of Nasser's image was "his ability to represent Egyptian authenticity, in triumph or defeat",[294] the national press also helped to foster his popularity and profile—more so after the nationalization of state media.[296] Historian Tarek Osman wrote:

The interplay in the Nasser 'phenomenon' between genuine expression of popular feeling and state-sponsored propaganda may sometimes be hard to disentangle, but behind it lies a vital historical fact: that Gamal Abdel Nasser signifies the only truly Egyptian developmental project in the country's history since the fall of the Pharaonic state. There had been other projects ... But this was different—in origin, meaning and impact, for Nasser was a man of the Egyptian soil who had overthrown the Middle East's most established and sophisticated monarchy in a swift and bloodless move—to the acclaim of millions of poor, oppressed Egyptians—and ushered in a programme of 'social justice', 'progress and development', and 'dignity'.[299]

While Nasser was increasingly criticized by Egyptian intellectuals following the Six-Day War and his death in 1970, the general public was persistently sympathetic both during and after Nasser's life.[294] According to political scientist Mahmoud Hamad, writing in 2008, "nostalgia for Nasser is easily sensed in Egypt and all Arab countries today".[300] General malaise in Egyptian society, particularly during the Mubarak era, augmented nostalgia for Nasser's presidency, which increasingly became associated with the ideals of national purpose, hope, social cohesion, and vibrant culture.[286]

Until the present day, Nasser serves as an iconic figure throughout the Arab world,[281][301] a symbol of Arab unity and dignity,[302][303][304] and a towering figure in modern Middle Eastern history.[29] He is also considered a champion of social justice in Egypt.[305][306]Time writes that despite his mistakes and shortcomings, Nasser "imparted a sense of personal worth and national pride that [Egypt and the Arabs] had not known for 400 years. This alone may have been enough to balance his flaws and failures."[276]

Historian Steven A. Cook wrote in July 2013, "Nasser's heyday still represents, for many, the last time that Egypt felt united under leaders whose espoused principles met the needs of ordinary Egyptians."[307] During the Arab Spring, which resulted in a revolution in Egypt, photographs of Nasser were raised in Cairo and Arab capitals during anti-government demonstrations.[308][309] According to journalist Lamis Andoni, Nasser had become a "symbol of Arab dignity" during the mass demonstrations.[308]

Anwar Sadat (left) and Nasser in the National Assembly, 1964. Sadat succeeded Nasser as president in 1970 and significantly departed from Nasser's policies throughout his rule.

Sadat declared his intention to "continue the path of Nasser" in his 7 October 1970 presidential inauguration speech,[310] but began to depart from Nasserist policies as his domestic position improved following the 1973 October War.[289][310] President Sadat's Infitah policy sought to open Egypt's economy for private investment.[311] According to Heikal, ensuing anti-Nasser developments until the present day led to an Egypt "[half] at war with Abdel-Nasser, half [at war] with Anwar El-Sadat".[284]

Nasser's Egyptian detractors considered him a dictator who thwarted democratic progress, imprisoned thousands of dissidents, and led a repressive administration responsible for numerous human rights violations.[284] Islamists in Egypt, particularly members of the politically persecuted Brotherhood, viewed Nasser as oppressive, tyrannical, and demonic.[312] Liberal writer Tawfiq al-Hakim described Nasser as a "confused Sultan" who employed stirring rhetoric, but had no actual plan to achieve his stated goals.[311]

Some of Nasser's liberal and Islamist critics in Egypt, including the founding members of the New Wafd Party and writer Jamal Badawi, dismissed Nasser's popular appeal with the Egyptian masses during his presidency as being the product of successful manipulation and demagoguery.[313] Egyptian political scientist Alaa al-Din Desouki blamed the 1952 revolution's shortcomings on Nasser's concentration of power, and Egypt's lack of democracy on Nasser's political style and his government's limitations on freedom of expression and political participation.[314]

American political scientist Mark Cooper asserted that Nasser's charisma and his direct relationship with the Egyptian people "rendered intermediaries (organizations and individuals) unnecessary",[315] he opined that Nasser's legacy was a "guarantee of instability" due to Nasser's reliance on personal power and the absence of strong political institutions under his rule.[315] Historian Abd al-Azim Ramadan wrote that Nasser was an irrational and irresponsible leader, blaming his inclination to solitary decision-making for Egypt's losses during the Suez War, among other events.[316]Miles Copeland, Jr., a Central Intelligence Agency officer known for his close personal relationship with Nasser,[317] said that the barriers between Nasser and the outside world have grown so thick that all but the information that attest to his infallibility, indispensability, and immortality has been filtered out.[318]

Zakaria Mohieddin, who was Nasser's vice president, said that Nasser gradually changed during his reign. He ceased consulting his colleagues and made more and more of the decisions himself, although Nasser repeatedly said that a war with Israel will start at a time of his, or Arab, choosing, in 1967 he started a bluffing game "but a successful bluff means your opponent must not know which cards you are holding. In this case Nasser's opponent could see his hand in the mirror and knew he was only holding a pair of deuces" and Nasser knew that his army is not prepared yet. "All of this was out of character...His tendencies in this regard may have been accentuated by diabetes... That was the only rational explanation for his actions in 1967".[225]

Nasser told an East German newspaper in 1964 that "no person, not even the most simple one, takes seriously the lie of the six million Jews that were murdered [in the Holocaust]."[319][320][321] However he is not known to have ever again publicly called the figure of six million into question, perhaps because his advisors and East German contacts had advised him on the subject.[322]

Through his actions and speeches, and because he was able to symbolize the popular Arab will, Nasser inspired several nationalist revolutions in the Arab world,[299] he defined the politics of his generation and communicated directly with the public masses of the Arab world, bypassing the various heads of states of those countries—an accomplishment not repeated by other Arab leaders.[313] The extent of Nasser's centrality in the region made it a priority for incoming Arab nationalist heads of state to seek good relations with Egypt, in order to gain popular legitimacy from their own citizens.[323]

To varying degrees,[29] Nasser's statist system of government was continued in Egypt and emulated by virtually all Arab republics,[324] namely Algeria, Syria, Iraq, Tunisia, Yemen, Sudan, and Libya.[29][324]Ahmed Ben Bella, Algeria's first president, was a staunch Nasserist.[325] Abdullah al-Sallal drove out the king of North Yemen in the name of Nasser's pan-Arabism.[185] Other coups influenced by Nasser included those that occurred in Iraq in July 1958 and Syria in 1963.[326] Muammar Gaddafi, who overthrew the Libyan monarchy in 1969, considered Nasser his hero and sought to succeed him as "leader of the Arabs".[327] Also in 1969, Colonel Gaafar Nimeiry, a supporter of Nasser, took power in Sudan,[328] the Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM) helped spread Nasser's pan-Arabist ideas throughout the Arab world, particularly among the Palestinians, Syrians, and Lebanese,[329][330] and in South Yemen, the Persian Gulf, and Iraq.[330] While many regional heads of state tried to emulate Nasser, Podeh opined that the "parochialism" of successive Arab leaders "transformed imitation [of Nasser] into parody".[324]

In 1963, Egyptian director Youssef Chahine produced the film El Nasser Salah El Dine ("Saladin The Victorious"), which intentionally drew parallels between Saladin, considered a hero in the Arab world, and Nasser and his pan-Arabist policies.[331] Nasser is played by Ahmed Zaki in Mohamed Fadel's 1996 Nasser 56, the film set the Egyptian box office record at the time, and focused on Nasser during the Suez Crisis.[332][333] It is also considered a milestone in Egyptian and Arab cinema as the first film to dramatize the role of a modern-day Arab leader.[334] Together with the 1999 Syrian biopicGamal Abdel Nasser, the films marked the first biographical movies about contemporary public figures produced in the Arab world,[335] he is portrayed by Amir Boutrous in the Netflix television series The Crown.

Nasser and his family in Manshiyat al-Bakri, 1963. From left to right, his daughter Mona, his wife Tahia Kazem, daughter Hoda, son Abdel Hakim, son Khaled, son Abdel Hamid, and Nasser.

In 1944, Nasser married Tahia Kazem, the 22-year-old daughter of a wealthy Iranian father and an Egyptian mother, both of whom died when she was young, she was introduced to Nasser through her brother, Abdel Hamid Kazim, a merchant friend of Nasser's, in 1943.[336] After their wedding, the couple moved into a house in Manshiyat al-Bakri, a suburb of Cairo, where they would live for the rest of their lives. Nasser's entry into the officer corps in 1937 secured him relatively well-paid employment in a society where most people lived in poverty.[20]

Nasser and Tahia would sometimes discuss politics at home, but for the most part, Nasser kept his career separate from his family life, he preferred to spend most of his free time with his children.[337] Nasser and Tahia had two daughters and three sons: Hoda, Mona, Khaled, Abdel Hamid, and Abdel Hakim.[338]

Although he was a proponent of secular politics, Nasser was an observant Muslim who made the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in 1954 and 1965,[339][340] he was known to be personally incorruptible,[341][342][343][344] a characteristic which further enhanced his reputation among the citizens of Egypt and the Arab world.[343] Nasser's personal hobbies included playing chess, American films, reading Arabic, English, and French magazines, and listening to classical music.[345]

Nasser engaged in chain smoking.[273][342][346] He maintained 18-hour workdays and rarely took time off for vacations, the combination of smoking and working long hours contributed to his poor health. He was diagnosed with diabetes in the early 1960s and by the time of his death in 1970, he also had arteriosclerosis, heart disease, and high blood pressure, he suffered two major heart attacks (in 1966 and 1969), and was on bed rest for six weeks after the second episode. State media reported that Nasser's absence from the public view at that time was a result of influenza.[273]

^ abRichard Bordeaux Parker (1 January 1993). The Politics of Miscalculation in the Middle East. Indiana University Press. p. 79. ISBN978-0-253-34298-0. Zakaria Muhieddin...was vice president )of Nasser)...All of this was out of character; in the early days of the revolution Nasser had been the most cautious member of the RCC; that was why he was its leader. He was forever saying, after they had taken a decision, "Let's think this over until tomorrow." After he came to power he gradually changed. He ceased consulting his colleagues and made more and more of the decisions himself, his tendencies in this regard may have been accentuated by diabetes, which Muhieddin said sometimes leads people to make rash decisions. That was the only rational explanation for his actions in 1967.

^Satloff, Robert (2007). Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust's Long Reach Into Arab lands. PublicAffairs. p. 163. ISBN9781586485108.

^Laqueur, Walter (2006). The Changing Face of Antisemitism: From Ancient Times to the Present Day. Oxford University Press. p. 141. ISBN9780195304299.

^Robert S. Wistrich (17 October 1985). Hitler's apocalypse: Jews and the Nazi legacy. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 188. ISBN978-0-297-78719-8. President Nasser of Egypt in a notorious interview with the editor of the neo-Nazi Deutsche Soldaten und National Zeitung, published on 1 May 1964, insisted that No one, not even the simplest man in our country, takes seriously the lie about six million Jews who were murdered

Gordon, Joel (2000), "Nasser 56/Cairo 96: Reimaging Egypt's Lost Community", in Walter Armbrust, Mass Mediations: New Approaches to Popular Culture in the Middle East and Beyond, Berkeley: University of California Press, ISBN0-520-21925-2

1.
Belgrade
–
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and its name translates to White city. The urban area of the City of Belgrade has a population of 1.34 million, one of the most important prehistoric cultures of Europe, the Vinča culture, evolved within the Belgrade area in the 6th millennium BC. In antiquity, Thraco-Dacians inhabited the region, and after 279 BC Celts conquered the city and it was conquered by the Romans during the reign of Augustus, and awarded city rights in the mid-2nd century. In 1521, Belgrade was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and became the seat of the Sanjak of Smederevo and it frequently passed from Ottoman to Habsburg rule, which saw the destruction of most of the city during the Austro-Ottoman wars. Belgrade was again named the capital of Serbia in 1841, northern Belgrade remained the southernmost Habsburg post until 1918, when the city was reunited. As a strategic location, the city was battled over in 115 wars, Belgrade was the capital of Yugoslavia from its creation in 1918, to its final dissolution in 2006. Belgrade has an administrative status within Serbia and it is one of five statistical regions of Serbia. Its metropolitan territory is divided into 17 municipalities, each with its own local council, City of Belgrade covers 3. 6% of Serbias territory, and 22. 5% of the countrys population lives within its administrative limits. It is classified as a Beta- global city, chipped stone tools found at Zemun show that the area around Belgrade was inhabited by nomadic foragers in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic eras. Some of these belong to the Mousterian industry, which are associated with Neanderthals rather than modern humans. Aurignacian and Gravettian tools have also discovered there, indicating occupation between 50,000 and 20,000 years ago. The first farming people to settle in the region are associated with the Neolithic Starčevo culture, there are several Starčevo sites in and around Belgrade, including the eponymous site of Starčevo. The Starčevo culture was succeeded by the Vinča culture, a more sophisticated farming culture that grew out of the earlier Starčevo settlements which is named for a site in the Belgrade region. Evidence of early knowledge about Belgrades geographical location comes from ancient myths, the rock overlooking the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers has been identified as one of the place in the story of Jason and the Argonauts. The Paleo-Balkan tribes of Thracians and Dacians ruled this area prior to the Roman conquest, Belgrade was inhabited by a Thraco-Dacian tribe Singi, after the Celtic invasion in 279 BC, the Scordisci took the city, naming it Singidūn. In 34–33 BC the Roman army led by Silanus reached Belgrade, jovian reestablished Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire, ending the brief revival of traditional Roman religions under his predecessor Julian the Apostate. In 395 AD, the passed to the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire

2.
President of Egypt
–
The President of the Arab Republic of Egypt is the head of state of Egypt. Under the various iterations of the Constitution of Egypt, the president is also the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, the first president of Egypt was Muhammad Naguib, one of the leaders of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. He took office on 18 June 1953, the day on which the monarchy of Egypt was overthrown. Following the 2011 Egyptian revolution, Hosni Mubarak, who held office from 14 October 1981 until 11 February 2011, was forced to resign following calls for his removal from office. On 10 February 2011 Mubarak transferred presidential powers to then-Vice President Omar Suleiman, on 30 June 2012, Mohamed Morsi was sworn in as President of Egypt, having won the 2012 Egyptian presidential election on 24 June. The Egyptian Constitution has had various forms since its 1953 change to become a republic, under the 1980 amendments of the 1971 Egyptian Constitution, the president of the republic was elected indirectly in a two-stage system unique to Egypt. The People’s Assembly, the house of Parliament, nominated one of a number of candidates for presidency. In 2005 and 2007, constitutional amendments were made, principles in the amended constitution include, The election of the president of the republic by direct secret ballot from among all citizens who have the right to vote. Ensuring that multiple candidates be put forward for the people to choose from, ensuring the credibility of the nomination process. Providing the opportunity for political parties to put one of their leaders to contest the first presidential elections to be held in light of the amendment. The establishment of an election commission that would enjoy complete independence to supervise the election process. Carrying out the election in a single day, ensuring judicial supervision over the voting process. The following provisions regarding the process are stipulated in Article 76 as amended. If no candidate attains such a majority, elections will be repeated after at least seven days between the two candidates having the highest votes. In case of a tie between the candidate who attained the second highest votes and a candidate, the third candidate shall participate in the second round. The candidate who receives the highest votes in the second round shall be declared president, the amendment also provides that a law will be passed to regulate the relevant election procedures. This law is expected to regulate the various aspects of the process itself, including campaign funding, equal access to the media. As required by the amendment, the law will be submitted to the Supreme Constitutional Court to opine on its constitutionality

3.
Ali Sabri
–
Ali Sabri was an Egyptian politician of Turkish origin. When Gamal Nasser died in 1970, Anwar Sadat was regarded as Nassers most likely successor, both Sadat and Sabri had heart attacks which they survived at Nassers funeral. Sabri was the vice-president and regarded as the no.2 figure in Sadats government, however shortly after Sadat came to power he was the most notable casualty of Sadats Corrective Revolution, and was imprisoned. Regarded as a diehard socialist, he was criticized for his upper-class background. His parents, Dewlet Shamsi and Abbas-Baligh Sabri were of Turco-Circassian descent, Ali Sabri was a grandson of nationalist Amin Shamsi Pasha a member of the General Assembly and Provincial Council who in 1881-82 was a principal financial backer of Ahmed Urabi Pasha. Following the failure of what historian term the Urabi Rebellion of 1882 and he resumed his seat at the General Assembly until his death. One of Ali Sabri’s paternal grand-uncles was Mohammed Faizi Pasha, a director-general of the Awqaf Department during the reign of Khedive Abbas Hilmi II, malaysia, Honorary Grand Commander of the Order of the Defender of the Realm

4.
Zakaria Mohieddin
–
Zakaria Mohieddin was an Egyptian military officer, politician, Prime Minister of Egypt and head of the first Intelligence body in Egypt, the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate. Mohieddin attended Military College in 1938 and was a Staff College Graduate in 1948 and he was the Professional Army Professor of Tactics in the Officers Military College from 1940 to 1943 and again from 1950 to 1951. He was also the Professor of Tactics in the Officers Staff College from 1951 to 1952, in 1967, Mohieddin was appointed by president Gamal Abdel Nasser to take over position of president after Nassers resignation, an appointment he refused. In 1968, he resigned all positions and quit public life. As of 2005, after the death of Hussein El-Shafei and until his own death in 2012, he, on 15 May 2012, Mohieddin died at the age of 93. Mohieddin had various assignments within the army and he served with the Egyptian army in Sudan. In 1948, he was the chief of staff of the first brigade which was besieged at Faluja. One of his achievements in 1948 was to go back to the besieged brigade. He was rewarded for his bravery at the end of the war with the Mehmet Ali golden award for valour, in 1952, he prepared strategy for army movement and was in charge of operation that led to success of the movement. 1952-1956 - Member of Egyptian Revolutionary Command Council, 1952-1955 - In charge of the first Intelligence body the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate 1953-1958 - Minister of Interior. 1958-1961 - Central Minister of Interior for Egypt and Syria during U. A. R, 1961-1968 - Vice President of Egypt. 1965-1966 - Prime Minister and Minister of Interior and his funeral was held at the Aal Rashdan Mosque in Nasr City, which is associated with the Egyptian military. In addition to his family, several military and political figures attended the procession, including Sami Hafez Anan, Hussein Tantawi, Hamdeen Sabahi, Ahmed Shafiq, Amr Moussa and Kamal el-Ganzouri. Malaysia, Honorary Grand Commander of the Order of the Defender of the Realm The Six-Day War, A Retrospective

5.
Vice-President of Egypt
–
The Vice-President of the Arab Republic of Egypt was a senior official within the Egyptian government. Five of the councils 11 members were Vice-Presidents of Egypt, according to article 139 of the 1971 Constitution, the President may appoint one or more Vice-Presidents define their jurisdiction and relieve them of their posts. The rules relating to the calling to account of the President of the Republic shall be applicable to the Vice-Presidents, the Constitution gave broad authority to the President to determine the number of Vice-Presidents, as well as their appointment, dismissal and duties of office. The 2012 Constitution does not include the position of Vice-President, with the adoption of the 2012 Constitution on 26 December 2012, the office of Vice-President was abolished. Mahmoud Mekki was the last person to hold the office before the adoption of the 2012 Constitution and he was sworn in on 14 July. On 14 August 2013, following a violent crackdown by security forces on supporters of deposed President Morsi, in more than 800 people were killed. Much like the 2012 Constitution, the 2014 Constitution does not include the position of Vice-President, with the adoption of the 2014 Constitution, the office of Vice-President was abolished again. Mohamed ElBaradei was the last person to hold the office until he resigned on 14 August 2013 and this list contains Vice-Presidents of United Arab Republic and Arab Republic of Egypt. El-Gawady, Mohamed, Cabinets during period of Revolution Hafez, Salah, Democracy Shock http, //nasser. bibalex. org/Days/DaysAll. aspx. CS=1&x=5

6.
Sabri al-Asali
–
Sabri al-Asali was a Syrian politician and a three-time prime minister of Syria. He also served as vice-president of the United Arab Republic in 1958, Al-Asali was born into a wealthy landowning family in Damascus. His uncle, Shukri al-Asali, was a prominent national leader, Shukri al-Asali and a number of other nationalist leaders were executed in Damascus and Beirut by the Ottoman wāli, Jamal Pasha, on 6 May 1916. Sabri al-Asali attended Damascus University and graduated with a law degree in 1925 and that same year the Great Syrian Revolt against the French occupation erupted, and al-Asali participated in the uprising by helping smuggle arms and supplies to the Syrian fighters in the Ghouta area. Al-Asali and Quwatli returned to Syria in 1932 following a general amnesty, other founding members included the historian and professor Constantin Zureiq, the philosopher Zaki al-Arsuzi and the politician Muhsin al-Barazi. The League was very successful in Syria and Lebanon, and called for the abolition of the French and British mandates, in 1936 Quwatli invited al-Asali to join the National Bloc, an umbrella group that led the political struggle against the French occupation. Al-Asali ran for parliament as a member of the Bloc and won a seat in the 1936 elections, and again in 1943,1947,1954, Al-Asali served as minister of interior in the cabinet of Faris al-Khoury, and later he became minister of justice and education. In the cabinet of Saadallah al-Jabiri that was formed in October 1945, al-Asali again held the portfolios of justice, Al-Asali was part of the Syrian delegation that attended the founding of the Arab League in Cairo in 1945. Syria regained its independence in April 1946, and al-Jabiri formed the first cabinet in post-occupation Syria, in 1948 al-Asali was again appointed the interior portfolio by Prime Minister Jamil Mardam Bey. His term was marred by domestic unrest resulting from the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Al-Asali used a hardline approach and cracked down on the opposition. As the turmoil spread further, al-Asali deployed the army in the streets and he became very unpopular and only narrowly survived several attempts on his life in 1948. In 1949 Chief of Staff Husni al-Zaim led a coup that overthrew the Quwatli government. Al-Asali, along with most of Quwatlis associates, was arrested and he remained under house arrest until al-Zaims government was overthrown by another military coup. The Shishakli government was overthrown by a coup in 1954. Al-Atassi was elected president and he asked al-Asali to form a cabinet and his tenure saw the assassination of Colonel Adnan al-Malki, the deputy-chief of staff, by a member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. The Malki affair caused outrage in the military, Al-Asali appointed Abdel Hamid al-Sarraj to lead an official tribunal which identified the SSNP with backing of the United States as the main culprits. The SSNP was outlawed and its leadership was arrested. During his first term as minister, al-Asali allied himself with the strong military

7.
Akram al-Hawrani
–
Akram Al-Hourani, was a Syrian politician who played a prominent role in the formation of a widespread populist, nationalist movement in Syria and in the rise of the Baath Party. He was highly influential in Syrian politics from the beginning of the 1940s until his departure into exile in 1963, Al-Hourani held various positions including a government ministry and the joint vice-presidency of the United Arab Republic. He was educated in Hama and Damascus before joining the faculty at the Jesuit University in 1932. He was forced to leave the institution soon thereafter, having been implicated in the assassination of former Syrian president. In 1936, he enrolled in the Damascus Law School, in 1938 he left the party and returned to Hama to practice law. There he took over the Hizb al-Shabab founded by a cousin, the province of Hama in the earlier part of the twentieth century was characterised by feudalism, with landlords owning most of the land. The landlords exercised complete control over the peasantry, backed up by what amounted to private armies and he retained his seat in the elections of 1947,1949,1954, and 1962. Between 1949 and 1954 Syrian politics was punctuated by four military coups, based on his strong influence in the army, Al-Hourani was considered to have played a part in these coups, however there is no concrete evidence to support that. He was initially close to the leader of the third and fourth coups, Adib al-Shishakli. Al-Shishaklis decision to sign a decree distributing state lands to the peasantry in January 1952 appears to have been under al-Hawranis influence. However, as the dictator grew more autocratic his influence waned, there, in November that year, he agreed to merge the Arab Socialist Party with the Arab Baath Party led by Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar. The latter thus gained a base of active supporters for the first time. The unified party adopted the name Arab Baath Socialist Party and it was disbanded, along with all Syrian political parties by president Nasser in 1958. The relation between Al-Hourani and Aflaq ended acrimoniously in 1962, Al-Hourani was a member of the Baath Party national command, meaning its pan-Arab leadership, from its establishment in 1954 until 1959. This has been described as the point where the Baath Party turned their backs, after the treaty of union between Syria and Egypt in 1958 Al-Hourani became Vice-President of the United Arab Republic under Gamal Abdel Nasser, a post he held until 1959. He subsequently differed with Aflaq and al-Bitar over the position regarding the UAR. When a 1961 military coup in Syria led to the dissolution of the UAR, Al-Hourani publicly supported it, the Baath Party split into several competing factions, but as the national command decided in favour of reunification, Al-Hourani left it. He was officially expelled in June 1962, whereafter he and his loyalists re-established the Arab Socialist Party, however, popular support for unity hampered its growth and it was strong only in his original stronghold of Hama

8.
Abdel Latif Boghdadi (politician)
–
Abdel Latif Boghdadi or Abd el-Latif el-Baghdadi was an Egyptian politician, senior air force officer, and judge. An original member of the Free Officers Movement which overthrew the monarchy in Egypt in the 1952 Revolution, the French author Jean Lacouture called Boghdadi a robust manager who only lacked stature comparable to Nassers. Boghdadi was born in El Mansoura on 20 September 1917 and he is known to have excelled at Egypts military academy in 1938 and, later on, its air force academy. Boghdadi later became one of the ten members of the Free Officers Movement. During the 1952 revolution led by the Free Officers, Boghdadi commanded jet fighter units to circle around Cairo to prevent possible outside interference in the coup against King Farouk, Boghdadi also became a member of the Egyptian Revolutionary Command Council. In 1953, he was appointed inspector-general of the revolutions first political organization, when Naguib was removed from his post and arrested in late 1954, Nasser was still prime minister and transferred Boghdadi to municipal affairs minister. During this time, he was responsible for the construction of the Nile Corniche road in Cairo, for this reason Boghdadi was sometimes referred to sarcastically by his rivals as Abdel Rassif al-Boghdadi, rassif meaning pavement in Arabic. Nasser refused and put Boghdadi in charge of organizing Egyptian resistance along the canal, after the Suez War, he was appointed general administrator for reconstruction of the canal area and according to author Said Aburish, performed admirably. Boghdadi was elected as Speaker of the First National Assembly, Boghdadi accompanied Nasser on his trip to Damascus on 24 February 1958, after the unification of Syria and Egypt to form the United Arab Republic. His role in the new republic was, along with Amer, in this period in the early 1960s Boghdadi held the additional post of planning minister. In 1962, shortly after the UARs collapse, Nasser adopted a more Soviet -style economic system for Egypt to which Boghdadi disapproved and he was utterly opposed to the extensive socialist measures and the new system altogether. He declared his resignation, claiming Nassers behavior amounted to a loss of direction, Boghdadi also preferred closer relations with the United States, rather than the USSR. Boghdadi submitted his resignation again on 16 May 1964, after disagreeing with Nassers decision to send Egyptian troops to North Yemen to support Nassers partisans in the civil war and he referred to the war as Nassers Vietnam. Boghdadi also wanted a more circumspect policy of Egypt first, in response to his resignation, Nasser put Boghdadis brother Saad under house arrest and prevented his brother-in-law from traveling to the United Kingdom to complete his doctorate. Nasser also claimed Boghdadi was implicated in illegal Muslim Brotherhood activities, as a result of the fallout, Boghdadi withdrew from political life, although the rift between him and Nasser was reconciled before 1970. According to Nassers close associates, Nasser requested Boghdadi rejoin the government, due to Boghdadis previous resignation concerning the close relationship to the USSR, he asked Nasser at first hand the nature of the new Egypt-Soviet informal alliance. They both agreed that Boghdadi visit the USSR alone to ensure there were not any differences in perception of what the new relationship between the two countries meant, Boghdadi opposed Sadats peace treaty with Israel in 1978, as did all the other then-living former RCC members. On 8 September 1999 Boghdadi was hospitalized for complications from liver cancer and he was pronounced dead at the age of 81 the next day

9.
Abdel Hakim Amer
–
Mohamed Abdel Hakim Amer was an Egyptian general and political leader. Amer was born in Astal, Samallot, in the Al Minya Governorate on 11 December 1919, after finishing grade school, he attended the Cairo Military Academy and graduated in 1938. He was commissioned into the Egyptian Army in 1939, Amer served in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, took part in the 1952 Revolution and commanded the Egyptian Army in the Suez Crisis, the North Yemen Civil War and the Six-Day War. Amer played a role in the military coup that overthrew King Farouk in 1952. The following year, Amer was made Egypts Chief-of-Staff, bypassing four military ranks, in 1956, Amer was appointed commander-in-chief of the joint military command established by Egypt and Syria. He also led Egyptian forces against both Israeli and allied British-French forces during the 1956 Suez war, after the fighting ended, Amer accused Nasser of provoking an unnecessary war and then blaming the military for the result. As Nassers representative in Syria, Amer was detained by rebels during the 1961 Syrian coup détat, in March 1964, Amer was made first vice-president to Nasser and deputy supreme commander, with the power to rule for 60 days if the president was incapacitated. Amers distinguished career came to an end after Egypts crushing defeat by Israel in the Six-Day War of June 1967. Many historians have stated that much the Egyptian militarys failures in the 1967 war can be laid at the feet of Amer, when Amer heard of the fall of Abu Ageila to Israel, he panicked and ordered all units in the Sinai to retreat. This order effectively meant the defeat of Egypt, shortly after the Six Day War ended, he was relieved of all his duties and forced into early retirement. In August that year, Amer, along with over 50 Egyptian military officers and he was kept under house arrest at his villa in Giza. After surviving and being taken home the day, he managed to evade his guards. Later, Cairo radio announced his burial in his village of Astal. Amer chose the option and received a full military burial. Anwar Al Sadat, who later became President of Egypt, expressed his opinion if he was in Amers position. In September 2012, Amers family filed a case to investigate his death and they claimed that he was murdered. Abdel Hakim Amer was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 13 May 1964, malaysia, Honorary Grand Commander of the Order of the Defender of the Realm

10.
Nur al-Din Kahala
–
Nur al-Din Kahala was a Syrian politician during the United Arab Republic period. Prior to the UAR period, Kahala served as a government bureaucrat. He served alongside vice presidents Abdel Hakim Amer and Abdel Latif Boghdadi, on 20 September he was appointed the additional post of Planning Minister. He accompanied Nasser on a tour of Syrian cities in February

11.
Abdel Hamid al-Sarraj
–
Abdel Hamid Sarraj was a Syrian Army officer and political figure in the mid-20th century. Sarraj was born in Hama to a conservative Muslim family, of Kurdish descent and he joined the Homs Military Academy and was one of the first officers in the army after Syrias independence from France. Sarraj participated in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, as a volunteer in the Arab Liberation Army and he led a detachment of six armored vehicles to surround Safad. He played a role in the 1949 coup that removed Husni al-Zaim from power, when Shishakli was ousted, Sarraj was temporarily sent to Paris as an assistant military attache. However, in March 1955, he was appointed head of the Syrian military intelligence, from this position, he was able to play a crucial role in preventing conspiracies against the government. Sarraj did not join any political parties, but cooperated with the ones in power, in September 1957, he helped negotiate the landing of 4,000 Egyptian troops in Latakia as part of defence pact made between the two countries. When the union between Egypt and Syria was declared, Sarraj, a supporter of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, was handed a key position in the cabinet as Minister of Interior. His position was elevated when the Syrian gendarmerie, the patrol. Following the resignation of Baath party ministers from the UAR government, Sarraj was given the appointments of Minister of Social Affairs. On 20 September 1960, he was appointed President of the Syrian Executive Council, Sarraj, at age 35, became the most powerful Syrian official in the UAR. A British official visiting Damascus described him as the Viceroy of Syria, however, his use of police methods, which were seen as ruthless, and his considerable power made him unpopular in Syria. Nonetheless, he was known to be an impeccable Arab nationalist who could get things done, pressure was exerted on Nasser to remove Sarraj from power, but he refused, feeling that there was no one more fit to run Syria on his behalf. Eventually, in August 1961, Nasser decided to appoint him Vice President, relocating him to Cairo, the UARs state minister, Abdel Qadir Hatem, was sent to mediate between Sarraj and Amer, but failed and the former began mobilizing his forces on 19–20 September. Realizing an operation against Nasser was unlikely to succeed, he agreed to meet Nasser and Amer in Cairo, although Nasser condemned Sarraj for his ambition to be sole ruler of Syria, he replaced Amer as Minister of Syrian Affairs with Mahmoud Riad. Resuming his post as Syrias vice president, Sarraj also headed a committee for UAR administrative reform. However, he submitted a second resignation on 26 September and Nasser accepted it. On 28 September 1961, a coup by disaffected officers occurred in Syria, Sarraj was arrested and jailed in the Mezzeh Prison of Damascus. He escaped from the prison and left Syria for Beirut, Lebanon, in 1964 the Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party attempted to assassinate Sarraj, prompting his flight to Egypt where he made amends with Nasser

12.
Kamal el-Din Hussein
–
Kamal El-Din Hussein was a member of the Egyptian Free Officers who overthrew King Farouk. Kamal El-Din Hussein was born in 1921 in Banha, Qalyubia and he was admitted to Military college in 1937. In 1938 he received the degree of military science from Military Academy. He served in the artillery unit in the Western Desert. He was later a member of the Free Officers and was appointed member of the Egyptian Revolutionary Command Council after the 1952 Revolution. During the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser he was appointed Minister of Social Affairs in 1954 and he led the National Guard to defend Ismailia during the Suez War. In 1964 he resigned from his post as Vice President and minister of local governments. His main reason was the Egyptian intervention in the Yemen War, during Anwar El-Sadats presidency he was elected in 1971 to the Peoples Assembly. After criticizing Sadats government, he was dismissed from the Peoples assembly in 1978, in 1983 he made a tour with Yasser Arafat through Arab countries to end hostilities between different Palestinian factions throughout the Arab world. Kamal El-Din Hussein was diagnosed with liver cancer and his funeral was attended by the then Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak

13.
Hussein el-Shafei
–
Born in Tanta in 1918, el-Shafei graduated from the Egyptian Military Academy in 1938. El-Shafei was appointed minister of war in 1954 and served as Egypts minister of labor and he served as vice-president under Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1961. During his tenure as minister of social affairs, el-Shafei introduced social insurance reforms considered radical at the time and his Winter Charity campaign provided Egypts poor with basic necessities. Some Egyptian celebrities took part in the trains which delivered the goods. Anwar Sadat appointed el-Shafei as vice-president of Egypts new government in 1971, el-Shafei died on 18 November 2005. Mubarak was among the officials at el-Shafeis state funeral. Malaysia, Honorary Grand Commander of the Order of the Defender of the Realm 1952 Revolution

14.
Anwar Sadat
–
Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat was the third President of Egypt, serving from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 October 1981. His refusal to reconcile with them over the Palestinian issue resulted in Egypt being suspended from the Arab League from 1979 to 1989, the peace treaty was also one of the primary factors that led to his assassination. Anwar Sadat was born on 25 December 1918 in Mit Abu El Kom, Monufia, Egypt to a poor Nubian family, one of his brothers, Atef Sadat, later became a pilot and was killed in action during the October War of 1973. His father, Anwar Mohammed El Sadat was an Upper Egyptian, thus, they said his mother did not look Egyptian enough and some called him Nassers black poodle. He graduated from the Royal Military Academy in Cairo in 1938 and was appointed to the Signal Corps and he entered the army as a second lieutenant and was posted to Sudan. During the Second World War he was imprisoned by the British for his efforts to help from the Axis Powers in expelling the occupying British forces. Along with his fellow Free Officers, Sadat participated in the coup that launched the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. Sadat was assigned to announce the news of the revolution to the Egyptian people over the radio networks, during the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser, Sadat was appointed minister of State in 1954. He was also appointed editor of the newly founded daily Al Gomhuria, in 1959, he assumed the position of Secretary to the National Union. Sadat was the President of the National Assembly and then vice president and he was reappointed as vice president again in December 1969. Sadat succeeded Nasser as president after the death in October 1970. Sadats presidency was widely expected to be short-lived, viewing him as having been little more than a puppet of the former president, Nassers supporters in government settled on Sadat as someone they could manipulate easily. Sadat surprised everyone with a series of political moves by which he was able to retain the presidency. On 15 May 1971, Sadat announced his Corrective Revolution, purging the government, political, Sadat encouraged the emergence of an Islamist movement, which had been suppressed by Nasser. Believing Islamists to be socially conservative he gave them considerable cultural and ideological autonomy in exchange for political support and this peace initiative failed as neither Israel nor the United States of America accepted the terms as discussed then. The Egyptian and Syrian performance in the stages of the war astonished both Israel, and the Arab World. The most striking achievement was the Egyptian militarys advance approximately 15 km into the occupied Sinai Peninsula after penetrating and this line was popularly thought to have been an impregnable defensive chain. As the war progressed, three divisions of the Israeli army led by General Ariel Sharon had crossed the Suez Canal, although agreed upon, the ceasefire was immediately broken

15.
Hassan Ibrahim
–
Hassan Ibrahim was an Egyptian Air Force officer and one of the founders of the Free Officers movement. He was a graduate of the Air Force Academy in Egypt, in 1952, Ibrahim served as an Air Force group captain. He was one of the three judges, who tried the members of the Brotherhood after their attempted assassination attack against then president Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1954, the other three judges were Anwar Sadat and Abdel Latif Boghdadi. The same year he was among the officers who arrested Mohammed Naguib, Ibrahim was also appointed minister for presidential affairs in 1954. Two years later, in 1956, Ibrahim became the head of the Egyptian economy agency, after dealing with business for a while, in February 1964, he was appointed as one of seven vice presidents of Nasser. Ibrahim resigned from office in 1966 due to Nassers request to end his relationship with a woman, Ibrahim was among five military officers who formed the first cell of the Free Officers movement in July or September 1949. In addition, Ibrahim was one of the leadership group of the Free Officers movement. The movement led the 1952 Revolution, then Ibrahim became a member of the 14-member Revolution Command Council that was charged with the running of Egypt following the success of the revolution. Malaysia, Honorary Grand Commander of the Order of the Defender of the Realm

16.
Mohammed Naguib
–
Mohamed Naguib was the first President of Egypt, serving from the declaration of the Republic on 18 June 1953 to 14 November 1954. Along with Gamal Abdel Nasser, he was the leader of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. Naguibs full name was Mohamed Naguib Yousef Qotp Elkashlan, he was born on 19 February 1901 in Khartoum, Sudan and he was the eldest of nine children of an Egyptian, Youssef Naguib, and a Sudanese woman Zohra Ahmed Othman. His family name, Elkashlan, was popular in Egypt at that time, due to well-known scientific personalities such as Saad Elkashlan and he came from a long line of army officers, his father served in the Egyptian army in Sudan. Naguibs favourite game, however, was playing at soldiers with his younger brother, having built a toy fortress in the front yard, Naguib would spend hours conquering inches of land with his toy soldiers. As a result, Naguib first studied to become a translator, and later in his life earned a law degree and he never completed his doctorate because his career in the army, undertaken in defiance of his fathers wishes, by then had begun to take off. Nevertheless, he found the time to polish his skills, learning English, French. While studying in Khartoum, Naguib had often been censured and sometimes even whipped by his British tutors for criticizing Britains occupation of Egypt and Sudan. At this time, Naguib chose Napoleon as a role model, soon, however, Napoleon was replaced in Naguibs affections by Mustafa Kamil, the founder of the National Party, and later he found another mirror in Saad Zaghlul. Some years after he was ousted from power, Naguib also came to somewhat admire Gandhi, after the death of his father in 1916, the family moved to Cairo, while Naguib and Ali finished their studies in Sudan. Naguib worked as a guard in Cairo, but in 1924 and he married in 1927, pursuing his legal studies while continuing a career in the army. By 1931, he was ready to resign from the army, in 1934, he remarried and was transferred to the Coast Guard, where he was employed to chase smugglers across the Sinai desert, mixing with the bedouin and helping treat their illnesses. In 1940, he was again promoted, however, despite generally favorable relations between Naguib and King Farouk, Naguib refused to kiss the kings hand. A brisk hand shake was the best Naguib could offer, any illusions Naguib might have had about the nature of Farouks rule evaporated on 4 February 1942 after a standoff at Abdeen Palace in Cairo between the British and the king. On this occasion, Farouk turned down Naguibs resignation and he again attempted to resign in 1951 when Hussein Serri Amer, widely thought to be corrupt, was made head of the Coast Guard. Meanwhile, Naguib had continued to climb the ladder, serving in Palestine during the Palestine War in 1948. While on active service in Palestine, Naguib would dedicate 30 minutes every morning to reading the Quran, in 1949, Naguib secretly joined the Free Officers movement, and a year later he was promoted to the rank of Major-General. The general is considered one of Egypts few heroes from the war in Palestine, the Free Officers, led by Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser were young members of the military – all under thirty-five and all from peasant or lower-middle-class backgrounds

17.
Prime Minister of Egypt
–
The Prime Minister of Egypt is the head of the Egyptian government. In the late 1970s, Egypt had several cohabitation governments which proved to be unstable, from 1981 until 2011, the National Democratic Party had maintained a majority in the People’s Assembly and supplied the Egyptian president. The National Democratic Party was dissolved by the administrative court on 16 April 2011. The prime minister heads the cabinet, which in turn plays a role in shaping the agenda of the houses of Parliament. It may propose laws to Parliament as well as amendments during parliamentary meetings, when parties from opposite ends of the political spectrum control Parliament and the presidency, the power-sharing arrangement is known as cohabitation. Several cohabitation governments took control in the 1970s yet proved to be very unstable, from 1 March to 17 June 2014, Ibrahim Mahlab served as the Acting Prime Minister of Egypt. At the time of his appointment by Adly Mansour, he said, security and stability in the entire country, a new cabinet was formed on 19 September 2015. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi accepted the resignation of the government and asked Petroleum Minister Sherif Ismail to form a new cabinet, as of April 2017, there are eight living former Prime Ministers of Egypt, as seen below. Living former Prime Ministers of Egypt The most recent Prime Minister to die was Abd El Aziz Mohamed Hegazi, cabinet of Egypt Politics of Egypt President of Egypt List of political parties in Egypt List of Prime Ministers of Egypt Media related to Prime ministers of Egypt at Wikimedia Commons

18.
Gamal Salem
–
Gamal Salem was a prominent member of the Free Officers who led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 that toppled the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan. Prior to the Revolution, he served as an officer in Royal Egyptian Air Force, in late 1951, Gamal Salem and Anwar Sadat joined the underground Free Officers movement established by Gamal Abdel Nasser. The groups purpose was to overthrow the monarchy of King Farouk, following the successful overthrow of Farouk in a coup détat on 23 July 1952, there was disagreement on what was to be done with the deposed monarch. Ultimately, the settled on a peaceful exile for Farouk. Following Farouks exile, a government was formed by the Free Officers. Eleven months later, the monarchy was abolished, and a republic was declared, with Naguib as President, Salem gained the post of Communications Minister. Salem was considered a Nasser loyalist and strongly opposed Naguib holding power, many times humiliating the latter, Salem headed the 1952 agrarian reform policy, which limited landownership to only 300 feddans, with compensations for those whose land was expropriated. In February 1954, Salem headed a military court which arrested and tried Armoured Corps officers loyal to Naguib, however, two sentences were later commuted. Following Nassers confirmation as President in 1956, Salem later served as Deputy Prime Minister, salems health started deteriorating, and his political career faded in 1959 due to his frequent foreign travel for treatment. Aburish, Said K. Nasser, the Last Arab, New York City, St. Nasser and his Generation, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0-85664-433-1 Alexander, Anne, Nasser, Haus Publishing, ISBN 978-1-904341-83-3

19.
Sulayman Hafez
–
Sulayman Hafez was an Egyptian lawyer and politician. Hafez drafted the letter of King Farouk and negotiated his stepping down following the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. Hafez became one of the chief antagonist against the Wafd Party in Egypt following the revolution and he sought to have Mustafa el-Nahhas ousted as the partys president, penning a letter on behalf of the revolutionary officers that described el-Nahhas as a tumour in the body politic. El-Nahhas had refused to negotiate the partys renewal of license with President Naguib as long as party veteran Fouad Serageddin remained imprisoned, however, he eventually relented after significant defections from the party and submitted the application to Hafezs interior ministry. Hafez, a legal figure prior the revolution, was among the law-based civilian allies of Naguib. Naguibs appointment of Hafez to the ministry, which was responsible for domestic security among other tasks, was seen by later historians as weakening his hand. Hafez then became the legal adviser Naguib. While Naguib drew on constitutional lawyers and the leaders of political parties. Hafez resigned from his position on 27 March 1954 as tensions between Nasser and Naguib escalated

20.
Egyptian National Police
–
Egyptian National Police or ENP is a department of the Ministry of Interior of Egypt. In the early Twentieth Century, holder of the post of Interior Minister was called, the title was used until 1919 when World War I broke out and Britain declared Egypt as a protectorate. As a consequence, some posts and titles were changed. Tahseen Rushdi Bashi was the first person to hold the title of Interior Minister in Egypt, as time went on, many Prime Ministers assumed the post of Interior Minister – in addition to their Premiership- being among the posts having major control over the internal events. The post enabled its holder to control elections, select executives and have an eye on political opponents, when Saad Zaghloul Pasha assumed the Interior Minister post in 1934 – along with his premiership- the Ministry was characterized with a political trend. He tended to dismiss persons who opposed his ideas and began to employ, ever since, and for a long time, the Ministry employees were left under the mercy of political changes and election results. But when the thinker, writer and lawyer Mr. Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed was appointed as an Interior Minister. Interior Ministers post – like other major posts in Egypt- was assumed for a time by non-Egyptian ministers with no police or security background. Currently, it is a must that the Interior Minister be a descendant of Egyptian parents, the Interior Minister has to relinquish his title as a police general and his name is only preceded by the title. There are four Deputy Ministers, Public Security responsible for safety, travel, Immigration, passports, port security. Special Police responsible for administration, the Central Security Forces, civil defense, police transport, police communications, traffic police. Personnel Affairs was responsible for police-training institutions, personnel matters for police and civilian employees, administrative and Financial Affairs responsible for general administration, budgets, supplies, and legal matters. In each the 27 Governorates of Egypt, the appointed governor. Both the governor and the director of police report to the Ministry of Interior on all security matters, the governor reports directly to the minister or to a deputy while the director of police reports through regular police channels. In the governorates subdivisions there are district police commandants with the authority, the police became increasingly motorised and it is now rare to see an officer on foot patrol except in city or town centres, and then rarely alone. An increasing number of urban centres police bicycle units are used to provide a response in congested areas, pedestrianised areas and parkland. Almost all commissioned officers were graduates of the Police Academy at Cairo where police had to complete four years at the academy, the Police Academy is a modern institution equipped with laboratory and physical-training facilities. The police force also sent some officers abroad for schooling, also included are, political orientation, public relations, and military subjects, marksmanship, leadership, and field exercises

21.
Non-Aligned Movement
–
The Non-Aligned Movement is a group of states that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. As of 2012, the movement has 120 members, all five leaders were prominent advocates of a middle course for states in the developing world between the Western and Eastern Blocs during the Cold War. The phrase itself was first used to represent the doctrine by Indian diplomat V. K. Krishna Menon in 1953, the countries of the Non-Aligned Movement represent nearly two-thirds of the United Nations members and contain 55% of the world population. Membership is particularly concentrated in countries considered to be developing or part of the Third World, members have at times included the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Argentina, Zaire, Cyprus, and Malta. Although many of the Non-Aligned Movements members were quite closely aligned with one or another of the superpowers. Some members were involved in conflicts with other members. The movement fractured from its own internal contradictions when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, although the Soviet allies supported the invasion, other members of the movement condemned it. Because the Non-Aligned Movement was formed as an attempt to thwart the Cold War, the successor states of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia have expressed little interest in membership, though Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have observer status. In 2004, Malta and Cyprus ceased to be members and joined the European Union, belarus is the only member of the Movement in Europe. Azerbaijan and Fiji are the most recent entrants, joining in 2011, the applications of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Costa Rica were rejected in 1995 and 1998, respectively. The 16th NAM summit took place in Tehran, Iran, from 26 to 31 August 2012, according to Mehr News Agency, representatives from over 150 countries were scheduled to attend. Attendance at the highest level includes 27 presidents,2 kings, at the summit, Iran took over from Egypt as Chair of the Non-Aligned Movement for the period 2012 to 2015. The founding fathers of the Non-Aligned Movement were, Jawaharlal Nehru of India, Sukarno of Indonesia, Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia, Gamal Abdul Nasser of Egypt and their actions were known as The Initiative of Five. The term non-alignment was established in 1953 at the United Nations, Nehru used the phrase in a 1954 speech in Colombo, Sri Lanka. In this speech, Nehru described the five pillars to be used as a guide for Sino-Indian relations called Panchsheel, the five principles were, Mutual respect for each others territorial integrity and sovereignty. The term non-aligned movement appears first in the conference in 1976. At the Lusaka Conference in September 1970, the member nations added as aims of the movement the peaceful resolution of disputes, another added aim was opposition to stationing of military bases in foreign countries. The movement stems from a not to be aligned within a geopolitical/military structure and therefore itself does not have a very strict organizational structure

22.
Josip Broz Tito
–
Josip Broz Tito, born Josip Broz, was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman, serving in various roles from 1943 until his death in 1980. During World War II he was the leader of the Partisans, while his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, and concerns about the repression of political opponents have been raised, some historians consider him a benevolent dictator. He was a public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad. Viewed as a symbol, his internal policies maintained the peaceful coexistence of the nations of the Yugoslav federation. He gained further attention as the chief leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, working with Jawaharlal Nehru of India, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt. He was General Secretary of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, and went on to lead the World War II Yugoslav guerrilla movement, after the war, he was the Prime Minister, President of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. From 1943 to his death in 1980, he held the rank of Marshal of Yugoslavia, serving as the commander of the Yugoslav military. With a highly favourable reputation abroad in both Cold War blocs, Josip Broz Tito received some 98 foreign decorations, including the Legion of Honour, Josip Broz was born to a Croat father and Slovene mother in the village of Kumrovec, Croatia. Drafted into military service, he distinguished himself, becoming the youngest sergeant major in the Austro-Hungarian Army of that time, after being seriously wounded and captured by the Imperial Russians during World War I, Josip was sent to a work camp in the Ural Mountains. He participated in the October Revolution, and later joined a Red Guard unit in Omsk, upon his return home, Broz found himself in the newly established Kingdom of Yugoslavia, where he joined the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. Tito was the architect of the second Yugoslavia, a socialist federation that lasted from 1943 to 1991–92. Tito was a backer of independent roads to socialism, in 1951 he implemented a self-management system that differentiated Yugoslavia from other socialist countries. A turn towards a model of market socialism brought economic expansion in the 1950s and 1960s and his internal policies included the suppression of nationalist sentiment and the promotion of the brotherhood and unity of the six Yugoslav nations. He remains a figure in the Balkans. He was the seventh or eighth child of Franjo Broz and Marija née Javeršek and he was christened and raised as a Roman Catholic. His father, Franjo, was a Croat whose family had lived in the village for three centuries, while his mother Marija, was a Slovene from the village of Podsreda, the villages were only 16 kilometres apart, and his parents had been married on 21 January 1891. Franjo Broz had inherited a 4. 0-hectare estate and a good house, despite his mixed parentage, Broz was considered an ethnic Croat. In July 1900, at the age of eight, Broz entered primary school at Kumrovec, as a result of his limited schooling, throughout his life he was poor at spelling

23.
Kenneth Kaunda
–
Kenneth David Kaunda, also known as KK, served as the first President of Zambia, from 1964 to 1991. Kaunda is the youngest of eight born to an ordained Church of Scotland missionary. He followed his fathers steps in becoming a teacher and he was at the forefront of the struggle for independence from British rule. He was the first President of the independent Zambia, in 1972 all political parties except UNIP were banned. At the same time, Kaunda oversaw the acquisition of majority stakes in key foreign-owned companies, the oil crisis of 1973 and a slump in export revenues put Zambia in a state of economic crisis. International pressure forced Kaunda to change the rules that had him in power. Multi-party elections took place in 1991, in which Frederick Chiluba, Kaunda was briefly stripped of Zambian citizenship in 1999 but the decision was overturned the following year. Kaunda is the youngest of eight children and he was born at Lubwa Mission in Chinsali, Northern Province of Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia. His father was the Reverend David Kaunda, an ordained Church of Scotland missionary and teacher and he attended Munali Training Centre in Lusaka. Kaunda was a teacher at the Upper Primary School and Boarding Master at Lubwa and he was for a time working at the Salisbury and Bindura Mine. In early 1948, he became a teacher in Mufulira for the United Missions to the Copperbelt and he was then assistant at an African Welfare Centre and Boarding Master of a Mine School in Mufulira. In this period, he was leading a Pathfinder Scout Group and was Choirmaster at a Church of Central Africa Congregation and he was also for a time Vice-Secretary of the Nchanga Branch of Congress. In April 1949, Kaunda returned to Lubwa to become a part-time teacher, in that year he became Organising Secretary of Northern Provinces Northern Rhodesian African National Congress. On 11 November 1953 he moved to Lusaka to take up the post of Secretary General of the ANC, the combined efforts of Kaunda and Nkumbula failed to mobilise native African peoples against the European-dominated Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The experience of imprisonment had a impact on Kaunda. The franchise was to be determined by existing property and literacy qualifications, nkumbulas allegedly autocratic leadership of the ANC eventually resulted in a split. Kaunda broke from the ANC and formed the Zambian African National Congress in October 1958, ZANC was banned in March 1959. In June Kaunda was sentenced to nine months imprisonment, which he spent first in Lusaka, however, Chona did not see himself as the partys main founder

24.
Organisation of African Unity
–
The Organisation of African Unity was established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, with 32 signatory governments. It was disbanded on 9 July 2002 by its last chairperson, South African President Thabo Mbeki, the OAU had the following primary aims, To co-ordinate and intensify the co-operation of African states in order to achieve a better life for the people of Africa. To defend the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of African states, South Africa and Angola were two such countries. The OAU proposed two ways of ridding the continent of colonialism and white minority rule, firstly, it would defend the interests of independent countries and help to pursue the independence those of still-colonised ones. Secondly, it would remain neutral in terms of world affairs, a Liberation Committee was established to aid independence movements and look after the interests of already-independent states. The OAU also aimed to stay neutral in terms of global politics, the OAU had other aims, too, Ensure that all Africans enjoyed human rights. Raise the living standards of all Africans, settle arguments and disputes between members – not through fighting but rather peaceful and diplomatic negotiation. Soon after achieving independence, a number of African states expressed a desire for more unity within the continent. Aside from Ghana, it comprised also Algeria, Guinea, Morocco, Egypt, Mali, founded in 1961, its members were described as progressive states. The Monrovian bloc, led by Senghor of Senegal, felt that unity should be achieved gradually and it did not support the notion of a political federation. Its other members were Nigeria, Liberia, Ethiopia and most of the former French colonies, some of the initial discussions took place at Sanniquellie, Liberia. The dispute was resolved when Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie I invited the two groups to Addis Ababa, where the OAU and its headquarters were subsequently established. The Charter of the Organisation was signed by 32 independent African states, the organisation was widely derided as a bureaucratic talking shop with little power. It struggled to enforce its decisions, and its lack of armed force made intervention exceedingly difficult, civil wars in Nigeria and Angola continued unabated for years, and the OAU could do nothing to stop them. The policy of non-interference in the affairs of member states also limited the effectiveness of the OAU, thus, when human rights were violated, as in Uganda under Idi Amin in the 1970s, the OAU was powerless to stop them. The Organisation was praised by Ghanaian former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan for bringing Africans together, the OAU was, however, successful in some respects. Many of its members were members of the UN, too and its pursuit of African unity, therefore, was in some ways successful. Total unity was difficult to achieve, however, as the OAU was largely divided, the pro-Socialist faction was led by Kwame Nkrumah, while Félix Houphouët-Boigny of the Ivory Coast led the pro-capitalists

25.
Haile Selassie
–
Haile Selassie I,23 July 1892 –27 August 1975), born Tafari Makonnen Woldemikael, was Ethiopias regent from 1916 to 1930 and emperor from 1930 to 1974. He also served as Chairperson of the Organisation of African Unity from 25 May 1963 to 17 July 1964 and 5 November 1966 to 11 September 1967 and he was a member of the Solomonic Dynasty. At the League of Nations in 1936, the emperor condemned the use of weapons by Italy against his people during the Second Italo–Ethiopian War. His regime was also criticized by rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch, as autocratic. Among the Rastafari movement, whose followers are estimated at two and four million, Haile Selassie is revered as the returned messiah of the Bible. Beginning in Jamaica in the 1930s, the Rastafari movement perceives Haile Selassie as a figure who will lead a future golden age of eternal peace, righteousness. Haile Selassie was an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian throughout his life and he is a defining figure in Ethiopian history. Haile Selassie died on 27 August 1975 at the age of 83, Haile Selassie was known as a child as Lij Tafari Makonnen. Lij is translated as child, and serves to indicate that a youth is of noble blood and his given name, Tafari, means one who is respected or feared. Like most Ethiopians, his personal name Tafari is followed by that of his father Makonnen and his Geez name Haile Selassie was given to him at his infant baptism and adopted again as part of his regnal name in 1930. As Governor of Harer, he known as Ras Teferi Makonnen listen. Ras is translated as head and is a rank of nobility equivalent to Duke, in 1916, Empress Zewditu I appointed him to the position of Balemulu Siltan Enderase. In 1928, she granted him the throne of Shoa, elevating his title to Negus or King, on 2 November 1930, after the death of Empress Zewditu, Ras Tafari was crowned Negusa Nagast, literally King of Kings, rendered in English as Emperor. Upon his ascension, he took as his regnal name Haile Selassie I, Haile means in Geez Power of and Selassie means trinity—therefore Haile Selassie roughly translates to Power of the Trinity. Haile Selassies full title in office was By the Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, King of Kings of Ethiopia, Elect of God. This title reflects Ethiopian dynastic traditions, which hold that all monarchs must trace their lineage to Menelik I, who was the offspring of King Solomon, to Ethiopians, Haile Selassie has been known by many names, including Janhoy, Talaqu Meri, and Abba Tekel. The Rastafari movement employs many of these appellations, also referring to him as Jah, Jah Jah, Jah Rastafari, Haile Selassies royal line originated from the Amhara people, but he also had Oromo, and Gurage roots. He was born on 23 July 1892, in the village of Ejersa Goro and his mother was Woizero Yeshimebet Ali Abba Jifar, daughter of the renowned Oromo ruler of Wollo province Dejazmach Ali Abba Jifar

26.
Kwame Nkrumah
–
Kwame Nkrumah PC led Ghana to independence from Britain in 1957 and served as its first prime minister and president. Nkrumah first gained power as leader of the colonial Gold Coast, an influential 20th-century advocate of Pan-Africanism, he was a founding member of the Organization of African Unity and was the winner of the Lenin Peace Prize in 1962. Kwame Nkrumah was born in about 1909 in Nkroful, Gold Coast, although his mother, whose name was Nyanibah, later stated his year of birth was 1912, Nkrumah wrote that he was born on 18 September 1909, a Saturday. By the naming customs of the Akan people, he was given the name Kwame, during his years as a student in the United States, though, he was known as Francis Nwia Kofi Nkrumah - Kofi is the name given to males born on Friday. The name of his father is not known, most accounts say he was a goldsmith, Kwame was the only child of his mother. Nkroful was a village, in the far southwest of the Gold Coast. His father did not live with the family, but worked in Half Assini before his death while Kwame was a boy, Kwame Nkrumah was raised by his mother and his extended family, who lived together in traditional fashion, with more distant relatives often visiting. He lived a childhood, spent in the village, in the bush. Nkrumahs mother sent him to the school run by a Catholic mission at Half Assini. He progressed through the ten-year elementary programme in eight years, by about 1925 he was a student-teacher in the school, and had been baptised into the faith. While at the school, he was noticed by the Reverend Alec Garden Fraser, principal of the Government Training College in the Gold Coasts capital, Fraser arranged for Nkumrah to train as a teacher at his school. Here, Columbia-educated deputy headmaster Kwegyir Aggrey exposed him to the ideas of Marcus Garvey, after graduating from Achimota in 1930, Nkrumah was given a teaching post at the Catholic primary school in Elmina, and after a year there, was made headmaster of the school at Axim. In Axim, he started to get involved in politics and founded the Nzima Literary Society, in 1933, he was appointed a teacher at the Catholic seminary at Amissa. Although the life there was strict, he liked it, Nkrumah had heard journalist and future Nigerian president Nnamdi Azikiwe speak while a student at Achimota, the two men met and Azikiwes influence increased Nkrumahs interest in black nationalism. The young teacher decided to further his education, Azikiwe had attended Lincoln College, a historically black college in Chester County, Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia, and he advised Nkrumah to enroll there. Nkrumah, who had failed the examination for London University, gained funds for the trip. He travelled by way of Britain, where he learned, to his outrage, of Italys invasion of Ethiopia and he arrived in the United States, in October 1935. Nkrumah had sought entry to Lincoln some time before he began his studies there, on 1 March 1935, when he arrived in New York in October 1935, he travelled to Pennsylvania, where he enrolled despite lacking the funds for the full semester

27.
Alexandria
–
Alexandria is the second largest city and a major economic centre in Egypt, extending about 32 km along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country. Its low elevation on the Nile delta makes it vulnerable to rising sea levels. Alexandria is Egypts largest seaport, serving approximately 80% of Egypts imports and exports and it is an important industrial center because of its natural gas and oil pipelines from Suez. Alexandria is also an important tourist destination, Alexandria was founded around a small Ancient Egyptian town c.331 BC by Alexander the Great. Alexandria was the second most powerful city of the ancient world after Rome, Alexandria is believed to have been founded by Alexander the Great in April 331 BC as Ἀλεξάνδρεια. Alexanders chief architect for the project was Dinocrates, Alexandria was intended to supersede Naucratis as a Hellenistic center in Egypt, and to be the link between Greece and the rich Nile valley. The city and its museum attracted many of the greatest scholars, including Greeks, Jews, the city was later plundered and lost its significance. Just east of Alexandria, there was in ancient times marshland, as early as the 7th century BC, there existed important port cities of Canopus and Heracleion. The latter was rediscovered under water. An Egyptian city, Rhakotis, already existed on the shore also and it continued to exist as the Egyptian quarter of the city. A few months after the foundation, Alexander left Egypt and never returned to his city, after Alexanders departure, his viceroy, Cleomenes, continued the expansion. Although Cleomenes was mainly in charge of overseeing Alexandrias continuous development, the Heptastadion, inheriting the trade of ruined Tyre and becoming the center of the new commerce between Europe and the Arabian and Indian East, the city grew in less than a generation to be larger than Carthage. In a century, Alexandria had become the largest city in the world and and it became Egypts main Greek city, with Greek people from diverse backgrounds. Alexandria was not only a center of Hellenism, but was home to the largest urban Jewish community in the world. The Septuagint, a Greek version of the Tanakh, was produced there, in AD115, large parts of Alexandria were destroyed during the Kitos War, which gave Hadrian and his architect, Decriannus, an opportunity to rebuild it. On 21 July 365, Alexandria was devastated by a tsunami, the Islamic prophet, Muhammads first interaction with the people of Egypt occurred in 628, during the Expedition of Zaid ibn Haritha. He sent Hatib bin Abi Baltaeh with a letter to the king of Egypt and Alexandria called Muqawqis In the letter Muhammad said, I invite you to accept Islam, Allah the sublime, shall reward you doubly. But if you refuse to do so, you bear the burden of the transgression of all the Copts

28.
Sultanate of Egypt
–
The Sultanate of Egypt is the name of the short-lived protectorate that the United Kingdom imposed over Egypt between 1914 and 1922. Opposition to European interference in Egypts affairs resulted in the emergence of a nationalist movement that coalesced, the immediate causes of what is known to Egyptians as the 1919 Revolution, however, were British actions during World War I that caused widespread hardship and resentment. After the war, Egypt felt the effects of soaring prices. When the war ended, the nationalists began to press the British again for independence, in addition to their other reasons, the Egyptians were influenced by American president Woodrow Wilson, who was advocating self-determination for all nations. In September 1918, Egypt made the first moves toward the formation of a wafd, or delegation, to voice its demands for independence at the Paris Peace Conference. The idea for a wafd had originated among prominent members of the Umma Party, including Lutfi as Sayyid, Saad Zaghlul, Muhammad Mahmud Pasha, Ali Sharawi, and Abd al Aziz Fahmi. On 13 November 1918, thereafter celebrated in Egypt as Yawm al Jihad, Zaghlul, Fahmi, and Sharawi were granted an audience with General Sir Reginald Wingate and they demanded complete independence with the proviso that Britain be allowed to supervise the Suez Canal and the public debt. They also asked permission to go to London to put their case before the British Government, on the same day, the Egyptians formed a delegation for this purpose, Al Wafd al Misri, headed by Saad Zaghlul. The British refused to allow the Wafd to proceed to London, on 8 March, Zaghlul and three other members of the Wafd were arrested and thrown into Qasr an Nil prison. The next day, they were deported to Malta, an action that sparked the uprising of March/April 1919 in which Egyptians of all social classes participated. The deportation of the Wafdists also triggered student demonstrations and escalated into massive strikes by students, government officials, professionals, women, within a week, all of Egypt was paralysed by general strikes and rioting. Violence resulted, with many Egyptians and Europeans being killed or injured when the British attempted to crush the demonstrations with force. On 16 March, between 150 and 300 upper-class Egyptian women in veils staged a demonstration against the British occupation, women of the lower classes demonstrated in the streets alongside the men. In the countryside, women engaged in activities like cutting rail lines, the upper-class women participating in politics for the first time assumed key roles in the movement when the male leaders were exiled or detained. They organised strikes, demonstrations, and boycotts of British goods and wrote petitions, the womens march of 16 March preceded by one day the largest demonstration of the 1919 Revolution. Soon, similar demonstrations broke out in Alexandria, Tanta, Damanhur, Al Mansurah, by the summer of 1919, more than 800 Egyptians had been killed, as well as 31 Europeans and 29 British soldiers. However, the British Government remained hostile to Zaghlul and the nationalists, General Wingate was recalled to London for talks on the Egyptian situation, while Sir Milne Cheetham was appointed Acting High Commissioner in January 1919. When the 1919 Revolution began, Cheetham soon realised that he was powerless to stop the demonstrations, nevertheless, the government in London ordered him not to give in to the Wafd and to restore order, a task that he was unable to accomplish

29.
Egypt
–
Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia by a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt is a Mediterranean country bordered by the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Gulf of Aqaba to the east, the Red Sea to the east and south, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. Across the Gulf of Aqaba lies Jordan, and across from the Sinai Peninsula lies Saudi Arabia, although Jordan and it is the worlds only contiguous Afrasian nation. Egypt has among the longest histories of any country, emerging as one of the worlds first nation states in the tenth millennium BC. Considered a cradle of civilisation, Ancient Egypt experienced some of the earliest developments of writing, agriculture, urbanisation, organised religion and central government. One of the earliest centres of Christianity, Egypt was Islamised in the century and remains a predominantly Muslim country. With over 92 million inhabitants, Egypt is the most populous country in North Africa and the Arab world, the third-most populous in Africa, and the fifteenth-most populous in the world. The great majority of its people live near the banks of the Nile River, an area of about 40,000 square kilometres, the large regions of the Sahara desert, which constitute most of Egypts territory, are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypts residents live in areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria. Modern Egypt is considered to be a regional and middle power, with significant cultural, political, and military influence in North Africa, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Egypts economy is one of the largest and most diversified in the Middle East, Egypt is a member of the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, Arab League, African Union, and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Miṣr is the Classical Quranic Arabic and modern name of Egypt. The name is of Semitic origin, directly cognate with other Semitic words for Egypt such as the Hebrew מִצְרַיִם‎, the oldest attestation of this name for Egypt is the Akkadian

30.
Cairo
–
Cairo is the capital and largest city of Egypt. Cairo has long been a center of the political and cultural life. Cairo has the oldest and largest film and music industries in the Arab world, as well as the worlds second-oldest institution of higher learning, Al-Azhar University. Many international media, businesses, and organizations have regional headquarters in the city, with a population of 6.76 million spread over 453 square kilometers, Cairo is by far the largest city in Egypt. An additional 9.5 million inhabitants live in proximity to the city. Cairo, like many other mega-cities, suffers from high levels of pollution, Cairos metro, one of only two in Africa, ranks among the fifteen busiest in the world, with over 1 billion annual passenger rides. The economy of Cairo was ranked first in the Middle East in 2005, Egyptians often refer to Cairo as Maṣr, the Egyptian Arabic name for Egypt itself, emphasizing the citys importance for the country. In Coptic the city is known as Kahire, meaning Place of the Sun, possibly referring to the ancient city of Heliopolis, the location of the ancient city is the suburb of Ain Shams. The ancient Egyptian name for the area is thought to be Khere-Ohe, The Place of Combat, sometimes the city is informally referred to as Kayro. The area around present-day Cairo, especially Memphis, had long been a point of Ancient Egypt due to its strategic location just upstream from the Nile Delta. However, the origins of the city are generally traced back to a series of settlements in the first millennium. Around the turn of the 4th century, as Memphis was continuing to decline in importance and this fortress, known as Babylon, remained the nucleus of the Roman, and, later, the Byzantine, city and is the oldest structure in the city today. It is also situated at the nucleus of the Coptic Orthodox community, many of Cairos oldest Coptic churches, including the Hanging Church, are located along the fortress walls in a section of the city known as Coptic Cairo. Following the Muslim conquest in 640 AD the conqueror Amr ibn As settled to the north of the Babylon in an area became known as al-Fustat. Originally a tented camp Fustat became a permanent settlement and the first capital of Islamic Egypt, in 750, following the overthrow of the Ummayad caliphate by the Abbasids, the new rulers created their own settlement to the northeast of Fustat which became their capital. This was known as al-Askar as it was laid out like a military camp, a rebellion in 869 by Ahmad ibn Tulun led to the abandonment of Al Askar and the building of another settlement, which became the seat of government. This was al-Qattai, to the north of Fustat and closer to the river, Al Qattai was centred around a palace and ceremonial mosque, now known as the Mosque of ibn Tulun. In 905 the Abbasids re-asserted control of the country and their returned to Fustat

31.
Egyptians
–
The Black Egyptian hypothesis is the hypothesis that Ancient Egypt was a predominately Black civilization, as the term is currently understood in modern American ethic perception. Mainstream scholars recognize that many indigenous Egyptians, including several Pharaohs, were of ancestry that, in the modern era, the Black Egyptian hypothesis goes a lot further, claiming that Egypt, from north to south, was a black civilization. At the UNESCO Symposium on the Peopling of Ancient Egypt and the Deciphering of the Meroitic script in Cairo in 1974, some modern scholars such as W. E. B. Du Bois, Chancellor Williams, Cheikh Anta Diop, John G. Jackson, Ivan van Sertima, Martin Bernal, the frequently criticized Journal of African Civilizations has continually advocated that Egypt should be viewed as a Black civilization. Diop and others believed the views were fueled by scientific racism. Diop used an approach to counteract prevailing views on the Ancient Egyptians origins. Since the second half of the 20th century, most scholars have held that modern notions of race to ancient Egypt is anachronistic. The focus of some experts who study population biology has been to consider whether or not the Ancient Egyptians were primarily biologically North African rather than to which race they belonged, in 1975, the mummy of Ramesses II was taken to France for preservation. The mummy was also tested by Professor Pierre-Fernand Ceccaldi, the chief forensic scientist at the Criminal Identification Laboratory of Paris. Professor Ceccaldi determined that, Hair, astonishingly preserved, showed some complementary data - especially about pigmentation, the description given here refers to a fair-skinned person with wavy ginger hair. Keita wrote that There is no reason to believe that the primary ancestors of the Egyptian population emerged and evolved outside of northeast Africa. Stuart Tyson Smith writes in the 2001 Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt that Any characterization of race of the ancient Egyptians depends on modern cultural definitions, not on scientific study. Thus, by modern American standards it is reasonable to characterize the Egyptians as black, several Ancient Greek historians noted that Egyptians had complexions that were melanchroes. There is considerable controversy over the translation of melanchroes, most scholars translate it as black. Alan B Lloyd wrote that there is no justification for relating this description to negroes. Melanchroes could denote any colour from bronzed to black and negroes are not the physical type to show curly hair. These characteristics would certainly be found in many Egs, ancient and modern, some of the most often quoted historians are Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, and Herodotus. Herodotus states in a few passages that the Egyptians were black/dark, lucian observes an Egyptian boy and notices that he is not merely black, but has thick lips

32.
Arab Socialist Union (Egypt)
–
The Arab Socialist Union was an Egyptian political party based on the principles of Nasserist Arab socialism. The Arab Socialist Union was founded in Egypt in December 1962 by Gamal Abdel Nasser as the sole political party. The ASU grew out of the Free Officers Movement of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, the partys formation was just one part in Nassers National Charter. The Charter set out an agenda of nationalization, agrarian reform, and constitutional reform, the programme of nationalisation under Nasser saw seven billion Egyptian pounds of private assets transferred into the public sector. Banks, insurance companies, many shipping companies, major heavy industries. Land reforms saw the area of private land ownership successively reduced from 200 to 100 feddans. A 90% top rate of tax was levied on income over ten thousand Egyptian pounds. Boards of directors were required to have a number of workers. The Charter also saw a strong assertion of Arab nationalism, within the context of historical Egyptian nationalism, after Nassers death in 1970, Anwar Sadat quickly moved away from his radical socialist position. This was demonstrated clearly in 1974, with Sadats Infitah, or Open Door, economic policy, then, in 1976, the beginning of political pluralism allowed three political platforms — left, centre and right — to form within the Arab Socialist Union. In 1978, the platforms were allowed to become fully independent political parties, many of todays political parties in Egypt have their origin in the breakup of the ASU. Following assuming office in 1970, late president Anwar Sadat adopted the slogans of rule of law, in August 1974, Sadat put forward a working paper to revamp the Arab Socialist Union. In March 1976, president Sadat issued a decree allowing three forums to represent the wing, the center wing and the left wing. These forums were later transformed into parties, forming todays Egyptian major political parties, during the first meeting of the Peoples Assembly on November 22,1976, president Sadat declared the three political organizations turned into parties. In June 1977, the law of political party was enacted, allowed the existence of political parties. However the ratification of this law had not meant cancellation of the Arab Socialist Union, the centre wing of the ASU evolved into the National Democratic Party, which was the nations dominant party until the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. Arab nationalism and pan-Arabism should be pursued, class struggle is not required for Arab socialism. The state should be answerable to the people and run as a democracy, commitment to religion and freedom of faith and worship are essential

33.
Tahia Kazem
–
Tahia Kazem was the First Lady of Egypt from 23 June 1956 to 28 September 1970. She married former President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1944, the couple had 5 children,2 girls and 3 boys. Kazems parents were of Iranian descent, Nasser received the approval of her father before their marriage in 1944. Malaysia, Honorary Recipient of the Order of the Crown of the Realm

34.
Khalid Abdel Nasser
–
Khalid Abdel Nasser was the eldest son of Egypts second President Gamal Abdel Nasser. Nassers public profile became pronounced in his early adulthood on account of his troubled relationship with late Egyptian president Anwar Sadat. Time Magazine stated that when Sadat asked to acquire Gamal Abdel Nassers bulletproof limousine, Khalid refused and after an argument with Sadat, he set the car on fire. In later years, Nasser became a critic of Sadat. In 1988, he was accused of being part of a secret leftist organization, the Mubarak government sought the death penalty in a case which accused Nasser of trying to overthrow the Egyptian government, and of involvement in a spate of assassinations and bombings. The case eventually became a test of strength between the judiciary and the executive when judges threw out much of the case, accusing police, Nasser had escaped to Yugoslavia during the trial, but was acquitted anyway. He later became a professor in Cairo Universitys Faculty of Engineering, in February 2011, during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, Nasser joined pro-democracy demonstrations in Tahrir Square against Mubarak and his regime. According to The Telegraph, Nassers participation was seen as helping to give the revolution a posthumous stamp of approval from an iconic Arab hero. Later that year, on August 30, he fell into an ending in his death at age 61 in a Cairo hospital on September 15. He is survived by three children

35.
Military Officer
–
An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. In this sense, officers are not enlisted, but hold appointments from their government that typically remain in force indefinitely unless resigned, the proportion of officers varies greatly. Officers typically make up between an eighth and a fifth of modern armed forces personnel, in 2013, officers were the senior 17% of the British armed forces, and the senior 13. 7% of the French armed forces. In 2012, officers made up about 18% of the German armed forces, historically, however, armed forces have generally had much lower proportions of officers. During the First World War, fewer than 5% of British soldiers were officers, in the early twentieth century, the Spanish army had the highest proportion of officers of any European army, at 12. 5%. Within a nations armed forces, armies tend to have a proportion of officers. For example,13. 9% of British army personnel and 22. 2% of the RAF personnel were officers in 2013, having officers is one requirement for combatant status under the laws of war, though these officers need not have obtained an official commission or warrant. Commissioned officers are typically the only persons, in an armed forces environment, a superior officer is an officer with a higher rank than another officer, who is a subordinate officer relative to the superior. Non-commissioned officers in positions of authority can be said to have control or charge rather than command per se, many advanced militaries require university degrees as a prerequisite for commissioning, even from the enlisted ranks. In the Israel Defense Forces, a university degree is a requirement for an officer to advance to the rank of lieutenant colonel, the IDF often sponsors the studies for its majors, while aircrew and naval officers obtain academic degrees as a part of their training programmes. In the United Kingdom, there are three routes of entry for British Armed Forces officers, the first, and primary route are those who receive their commission directly into the officer grades following completion at their relevant military academy. The third route is similar to the second, in that they convert from an enlisted to a commission, but these are taken from the highest ranks of SNCOs. LE officers, whilst holding the same Queens Commission, generally work in different roles from the DE officers, in the infantry, a number of Warrant Officer Class 1s are commissioned as LE officers. For Royal Navy and Royal Air Force officer candidates, a 30-week period at Britannia Royal Naval College or a 30-week period at RAF College Cranwell, Royal Marines officers receive their training in the Command Wing of the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines during a grueling 15-month course. The courses consist of not only tactical and combat training, but also leadership, management, etiquette, until the Cardwell Reforms of 1871, commissions in the British Army were purchased by officers. The Royal Navy, however, operated on a more meritocratic, or at least socially mobile, AOCS also also included the embedded Aviation Reserve Officer Candidate and Naval Aviation Cadet programs. NAVCADs were personnel who held associates degrees, but lacked bachelors degrees, nAVCADs would complete the entire AOCS program, but would not be commissioned until completion of flight training and receiving their wings. After their initial tour, they would be assigned to a college or university full-time for no more than two years in order to complete their bachelors degree

36.
Egyptian Army
–
The Egyptian Army is the largest service branch within the Egyptian Armed Forces, and is the largest army in Africa. The modern army was established during the reign of Muhammad Ali Pasha, the Egyptian army was also engaged heavily in the protracted North Yemen Civil War, and the brief Libyan-Egyptian War in July 1977. As of 2014, the army has a strength of 310,000 soldiers, of which, approximately 90. For most parts of its history, ancient Egypt was unified under one government. The main military concern for the nation was to keep enemies out, the arid plains they wanted to get rid of and deserts surrounding Egypt were inhabited by nomadic tribes who occasionally tried to raid or settle in the fertile Nile river valley. Nevertheless, the expanses of the desert formed a barrier that protected the river valley and was almost impossible for massive armies to cross. The Egyptians built fortresses and outposts along the borders east and west of the Nile Delta, in the Eastern Desert, small garrisons could prevent minor incursions, but if a large force was detected a message was sent for the main army corps. Most Egyptian cities lacked city walls and other defenses, the history of ancient Egypt is divided into three kingdoms and two intermediate periods. During the three kingdoms Egypt was unified under one government, during the intermediate periods government control was in the hands of the various nomes and various foreigners. The geography of Egypt served to isolate the country and allowed it to thrive and this circumstance set the stage for many of Egypts military conquests. They weakened their enemies by using small projectile weapons, like bows and arrows and they also had chariots which they used to charge at the enemy. Following his seizure of power in Egypt, and declaration of himself as khedive of the country, Muhammad Ali Pasha set about establishing a bona fide Egyptian military. Prior to his rule, Egypt had been governed by the Ottoman Empire, to further this aim, he brought in European weapons and expertise, and built an army that defeated the Ottoman Sultan, wresting control from the Porte of the Levant, and Hejaz. Egypt was involved in the long-running 1881–99 Mahdist War in the Sudan, during Muhammad Ali Pashas reign, the Egyptian army became a much more strictly regimented and professional army. The recruits were separated from daily life and a sense of the impersonal of law was imposed. Muhammad Ali Pasha previously attempted to create an army of Sudanese slaves and Mamluks, instead, the Pasha enforced conscription in 1822 and the new military recruits were mostly Egyptian farmers, also known as fellah. Because of harsh military practices, the 130,000 soldiers conscripted in 1822 revolted in the south in 1824, the Pashas goal was to create military order through indoctrination by two new major key practices, isolation and surveillance. In previous times, the wives and family were allowed to follow the army wherever they camped and this was no longer the case

37.
Arabic
–
Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested

38.
Egyptian revolution of 1952
–
The Egyptian revolution of 1952, also known as the July 23 revolution, began on July 23,1952, by the Free Officers Movement, a group of army officers led by Muhammad Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser. The revolution was aimed at overthrowing King Faruq. The revolutionary government adopted a staunchly nationalist, anti-imperialist agenda, which came to be expressed chiefly through Arab nationalism, the ongoing state of war with Israel also posed a serious challenge, as the Free Officers increased Egypts already strong support of the Palestinians. These two issues conflated four years after the revolution when Egypt was invaded by Britain, France and this strengthened the appeal of the revolution in other Arab and African countries. By the 1960s, Arab socialism had become a dominant theme and these restrictions on political activity would remain in place until the presidency of Anwar Sadat from 1970 onwards, during which many of the policies of the revolution were scaled back or reversed. It also inspired the toppling of existing pro-Western monarchies and governments in the region, the revolution is commemorated each year on July 23. The revolution in 1952 found its genesis within the voice of the people and it was first time for Egyptians to rule since time of Pharaohs. The new regime was common to all Egyptians in terms of religion, culture, the end of monarchy signaled an end for British intervention. A government that is 100 percent consisting of Egyptians was expected to act in favor of society, a mixture of agrarian capitalism and feudalism initiated the anti-feudal coup. The Egyptian economy was capitalist since last quarter of the 19th century, the loss of the 1948 war with Israel led to the Free Officers accusations of corruption towards the King and his court and the promotion of that feeling among the Egyptian people. The Free Officers Movement was formed by a group of reform minded officers which, backed by the Soviet Union and they used an army general, Muhammad Naguib, as its head to show their seriousness and attract more army followers. You manifested this during and after the Palestine War in the corrupt arms scandals and your open interference in the courts to try to falsify the facts of the case, thus shaking faith in justice. The army places upon Your Majesty the burden of everything that may result from failure to abdicate according to the wishes of the people. Causes • The Egyptian monarchy was seen as corrupt and pro-British, with its lavish lifestyle that seemed provocative to the free officers movement who lived in poverty. Its policies completed the image of the Egyptian government being a puppet-figure in the hands of the British government, • Promoting the feeling of corruptness of several Egyptian institutions such as the police, the palace and even the political parties by the free officers. • The loss of 1948 war with Israel led to the free officers blame of the King, as a result, a group of army officers who named themselves the free officers movement was formed by a young officer named Gamal Abdel Nasser. They used a general, Mohamed Naguib, as its head to show seriousness. You manifested this during and after the Palestine War in the corrupt arms scandals and your open interference in the courts to try to falsify the facts of the case, thus shaking faith in justice

39.
Muslim Brotherhood
–
The Society of the Muslim Brothers, shortened to the Muslim Brotherhood, is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. The Brotherhoods stated goal is to instill the Quran and the Sunnah as the reference point for. Ordering the life of the Muslim family, individual, community, as a Pan-Islamic, religious, and social movement, it preached Islam, taught the illiterate, and set up hospitals and business enterprises. The Arab Spring brought it legalization and substantial power at first. The Brotherhood itself claims it is a peaceful, democratic organization, according to a spokesman, the Muslim Brotherhood believe in reform, democracy, freedom of assembly, press, etc. We believe that the reform is the true and natural gateway for all other kinds of reform. We have announced our acceptance of democracy that acknowledges political pluralism, the rotation of power. Its founder, Hassan Al-Banna, was influenced by Islamic modernist reformers Muhammad Abduh and Rashid Rida, with the group structure and it downplayed doctrinal differences between schools emphasizing the political importance of worldwide unity of the Muslim Nation. Al-Banna believed the Quran and Sunnah constitute a perfect way of life, Islamic governments must be based on this system and eventually unified in a Caliphate. The Brotherhood preaches that Islam will bring justice, the eradication of poverty, corruption and sinful behavior. On the issue of women and gender the Muslim Brotherhood interprets Islam conservatively, there have been breakaway groups from the movement, including the Al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya and Al Takfir Wal Hijra. Prominent figures of the Brotherhood include Sayyid Qutb, an influential and anti-Semitic thinker of Islamic supremacism. Osama bin Laden criticized the Brotherhood, and accused it of betraying jihad, the Brotherhoods most frequently used slogan is Islam is the Solution. Another well known slogan is God is our objective, dying in the way of God is our highest hope. On the Brotherhoods green logo is emblazoned وَأَعِدُّواْ - taken from sūrat l-anfāl, according to academic Khalil Yusuf its motto was traditionally Believers are but Brothers. The Muslim Brotherhood position on political participation varied according to the situation of each branch. For many years its stance was collaborationist in Kuwait and Jordan, for pacific opposition in Egypt, armed opposition in Libya, (A book on the document was published under the name, La conquête de lOccident, Le projet secret des Islamistes by Sylvain Besson. These parties are staffed by Brotherhood members but they are independent from the Muslim Brotherhood to some degree

40.
Muhammad Naguib
–
Mohamed Naguib was the first President of Egypt, serving from the declaration of the Republic on 18 June 1953 to 14 November 1954. Along with Gamal Abdel Nasser, he was the leader of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. Naguibs full name was Mohamed Naguib Yousef Qotp Elkashlan, he was born on 19 February 1901 in Khartoum, Sudan and he was the eldest of nine children of an Egyptian, Youssef Naguib, and a Sudanese woman Zohra Ahmed Othman. His family name, Elkashlan, was popular in Egypt at that time, due to well-known scientific personalities such as Saad Elkashlan and he came from a long line of army officers, his father served in the Egyptian army in Sudan. Naguibs favourite game, however, was playing at soldiers with his younger brother, having built a toy fortress in the front yard, Naguib would spend hours conquering inches of land with his toy soldiers. As a result, Naguib first studied to become a translator, and later in his life earned a law degree and he never completed his doctorate because his career in the army, undertaken in defiance of his fathers wishes, by then had begun to take off. Nevertheless, he found the time to polish his skills, learning English, French. While studying in Khartoum, Naguib had often been censured and sometimes even whipped by his British tutors for criticizing Britains occupation of Egypt and Sudan. At this time, Naguib chose Napoleon as a role model, soon, however, Napoleon was replaced in Naguibs affections by Mustafa Kamil, the founder of the National Party, and later he found another mirror in Saad Zaghlul. Some years after he was ousted from power, Naguib also came to somewhat admire Gandhi, after the death of his father in 1916, the family moved to Cairo, while Naguib and Ali finished their studies in Sudan. Naguib worked as a guard in Cairo, but in 1924 and he married in 1927, pursuing his legal studies while continuing a career in the army. By 1931, he was ready to resign from the army, in 1934, he remarried and was transferred to the Coast Guard, where he was employed to chase smugglers across the Sinai desert, mixing with the bedouin and helping treat their illnesses. In 1940, he was again promoted, however, despite generally favorable relations between Naguib and King Farouk, Naguib refused to kiss the kings hand. A brisk hand shake was the best Naguib could offer, any illusions Naguib might have had about the nature of Farouks rule evaporated on 4 February 1942 after a standoff at Abdeen Palace in Cairo between the British and the king. On this occasion, Farouk turned down Naguibs resignation and he again attempted to resign in 1951 when Hussein Serri Amer, widely thought to be corrupt, was made head of the Coast Guard. Meanwhile, Naguib had continued to climb the ladder, serving in Palestine during the Palestine War in 1948. While on active service in Palestine, Naguib would dedicate 30 minutes every morning to reading the Quran, in 1949, Naguib secretly joined the Free Officers movement, and a year later he was promoted to the rank of Major-General. The general is considered one of Egypts few heroes from the war in Palestine, the Free Officers, led by Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser were young members of the military – all under thirty-five and all from peasant or lower-middle-class backgrounds

41.
Egyptian referendum, 1956
–
A double referendum was held in Egypt on 23 June 1956. The two issues were the candidacy of Gamal Abdel Nasser for the post of president, and a new constitution, both were approved, with the official figures showing 99. 9% in favour of Nassers candidacy and 99. 8% in favour of the constitution. However the figures were likely fraudulent, prior to the vote, Nasser had been consolidating power after ousting Muhammad Naguib and launching a massive crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood in 1954. The Liberation Rallys purpose was to acquire mass support for the RCC across the country and was reorganized into the National Union in 1956, the press also endorsed and urged support for the referendums. Another chief contributor to Nassers growing legitimacy was his personal charisma, the NU chose a constitutional committee to pen the new constitution, although its members were picked by Nasser himself. The referendums were overwhelmingly supported by the electorate, according to government tallies, Nassers bid for the presidency and the proposed constitution received almost unanimous approval by voters. Nasser ran uncontested, nominated by the new ruling party, the National Union, historian Kirk J. Beatie wrote the government figures were likely fictitious, but it is also impossible to know how accurate they were

President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin acknowledge applause during joint session of Congress in Washington, D.C., during which President Jimmy Carter announced the results of the Camp David Accords, 18 September 1978

Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies led an international committee in negotiations with Nasser in September 1956, which sought to achieve international management of the Canal. The mission was a failure.